Landreth Adonis Daniel

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

Landreth Adonis Daniel, a senior criminal defence solicitor, represented Person B in domestic abuse criminal proceedings in which his existing/ongoing client Person A was the complainant and key prosecution witness, and later advised Person A regarding a witness summons. The Tribunal found a clear and serious conflict of interest, breaching Paragraphs 6.2 and 6.5 of the Code and Principles 2, 5 and 7. No dishonesty was alleged or found; the case concerned failure of professional judgment and integrity. He was suspended for 2 months and ordered to pay costs reduced to £19,277.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Integrity
• No acting against a former client
• No conflict between current clients
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was not isolated but continued over a sustained period
• Respondent knew or ought to have known conduct was a serious breach
• Previous adverse disciplinary findings in 2002 and 2009
• High culpability given seniority and experience
• Limited insight; persisted in narrowly technical view of obligations

Mitigating factors:

• Over 30 years of practice in publicly funded criminal defence
• Cooperated fully with the investigation, no obfuscation
• Early admissions where appropriate and written apology
• Completed CPD courses on conflicts, ethics and safeguarding
• Positive character references
• Misconduct arose from mistaken attempt to assist clients, not bad faith
• Personal and caring/financial responsibilities