Stewart Stocker

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

Stewart Stocker, admitted 2008, acted for borrowers Mrs F and Mr A in a £945,000 loan/mortgage transaction. On 10 January 2017 he sent an identity certificate, facility letter and legal mortgage to the lender's solicitors (J Solicitors) certifying he had witnessed Mrs F's signature in his presence and that he had advised each borrower separately and independently, when Mrs F was in Nigeria and had not signed in his presence. He also told the lender's solicitor by telephone that both clients had attended his office. He later admitted to the lender's directors that he had lied. The Tribunal, proceeding in his absence, found allegations 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and 1.2 proved (breaches of Principles 2 and 6) and found dishonesty proved applying the Ivey test. The decision text indicates the conduct was too serious for lesser sanctions, pointing to strike off; no fine or costs figure appears in the provided text.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty found proved
• Repetition of misconduct (false attestation on three documents then misleading J Solicitors by telephone)
• Concealment of wrongdoing
• Acted in breach of a position of trust toward the lender
• Ought reasonably to have known conduct breached obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished career/clear record
• Misconduct related to a single transaction
• Showed some insight, admitted to Mr SM that he had done wrong and arranged re-execution of documents
• Spontaneous rather than planned misconduct
• Reported health difficulties and excessive workload
• Had ceased working in the legal profession since May 2017