Benjamin David Tisdall

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

The Respondent, a solicitor and partner at Fursdon Knapper, was instructed by clients Dr and Mrs A to lodge a court claim against Galliard Developments Ltd. He told them on 2 May 2018 that the claim had been lodged, on 11 February 2019 that he had resubmitted paperwork, and over the period to April 2020 created a misleading impression that proceedings had been issued, when no claim had ever been filed. The Tribunal rejected his explanation that he meant only that work was nearly complete and found all allegations proved, expressly finding dishonesty under the Ivey test. The Tribunal also excluded the hearsay witness statement of Dr A as there was no good reason for non-attendance. Finding no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £19,877.04.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was dishonest
• Repeated over a two-year period
• Senior position as partner with relevant experience
• Breach of clients' trust
• Some degree of planning in maintaining the false impression

Mitigating factors:

• Unblemished and exemplary professional and regulatory history
• No previous disciplinary findings
• Considerable workload and challenging work schedule (in court 80% of the time)
• Expressed remorse for poor service