Andrew John Peters

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

Andrew John Peters, an employed solicitor at Martin Smith & Co, was found to have failed to properly account for money received from clients between March 2013 and October 2016, taking cash and bank transfer payments (around £16,000 admitted received) which he used for personal living expenses rather than banking them with the firm. He was also convicted of drink driving and driving uninsured/with non-compliant tyres in May 2016, and failed to report these convictions and a County Court Judgment to the SRA. The Tribunal applied the Ivey test and found dishonesty proved. All allegations were found proved. The Respondent did not attend and the matter proceeded in his absence. The firm reimbursed clients £26,396. The Tribunal ordered the Respondent to be struck off the Roll and to pay costs of £19,000.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Proper basis for allegations
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty alleged and proved
• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over a period of about 3 years
• Respondent knew he was in material breach of obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession
• Sought cash payments from clients who trusted him and withheld money from the firm
• Did not seek to make good losses or notify the regulator
• Appeared to have no insight into severity of conduct
• Two separate criminal offences committed
• Failed to report misconduct to regulator

Mitigating factors:

• Made some admissions
• Asserted earlier successful career working with dedication to clients