Victoria Addis

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

Victoria Addis, a solicitor's clerk employed by Cordner Lewis Solicitors, was found to have misled clients about the conduct of their personal injury litigation (falsely claiming letters of claim had been sent, counsel instructed, court proceedings issued, and judgments obtained) and to have dishonestly fabricated/doctored an email purporting to come from a defendant firm to mislead all parties. She admitted allegations (b) and (c); allegation (a) was not pursued. The Tribunal found the allegations fully substantiated, made an Order under Section 43 of the Solicitors Act 1974 restricting her employment in connection with a solicitor's practice without Law Society permission, and ordered her to pay costs of £5,380.25.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest manufacturing of a fabricated email to mislead all parties
• Repeated misleading of multiple clients across several matters
• Attempted to retrieve the fabricated email

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted allegations (b) and (c) prior to hearing