Tharanjit Biring

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The Respondent, admitted as a solicitor in 2004, was convicted on 20 July 2017 of committing an act/series of acts with intent to pervert the course of justice and sentenced to 19 months imprisonment plus a £100 victim surcharge. She had provided a false witness statement containing targeted lies to support her co-defendant Mrs B, who was being prosecuted for fraud. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6 proved beyond reasonable doubt (allegation admitted). The Tribunal treated the conviction for intent to pervert the course of justice as engaging the Sharma/James strike-off approach, expressly referring to the dishonesty as very serious misconduct. Culpability was assessed as high and harm as very significant. No exceptional circumstances were found. The Respondent was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs reduced from £2,934.19 to £1,000 in light of her means.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct represented serious criminal misconduct
• Conduct was deliberate and extended
• Conduct helped conceal Mrs B's improper conduct
• Significant impact on Mrs A and Mrs C
• Respondent must have known her actions were thoroughly inappropriate

Mitigating factors:

• Mrs B was the prime mover
• No benefit to the Respondent
• Full cooperation with the regulator
• Remorse for her actions
• Numerous extremely positive character references
• Significant personal pressures