John Roger Davis

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

The Law Society brought five allegations of conduct unbefitting a solicitor against John Roger Davis, arising from delays in registering Deeds of Variation and failure to comply with a direction to repay costs to a residents' association. Due to over two years of unexplained delay by The Law Society (a breach of Article 6 reasonable-time requirements and resulting prejudice), the Tribunal struck out allegations (i), (ii), (iv) and (v) as it would be unfair to try them. Only allegation (iii) - failure to comply with the Law Society's direction to repay monies - proceeded, and the Respondent admitted it. Given this was his third appearance before the Tribunal with substantiated allegations and prior warnings, the Tribunal imposed an indefinite suspension and ordered costs of £1,000 (about a quarter of costs, reflecting the struck-out allegations). No dishonesty was alleged or found.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Two previous appearances before the Tribunal with substantiated allegations (1996 and 1998)
• Prior warning in 1998 that future misconduct would be treated less leniently
• Treated his professional body with disdain and arrogance; continued that attitude
• Made no attempt to comply with the Direction

Mitigating factors:

• Precarious financial position/impecuniosity
• Delays and conditions imposed by The Law Society on his practising certificate (though Tribunal gave little weight)