Daniel James Skinner

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

The Respondent, a partner specialising in leasehold litigation, failed to serve Points of Dispute in time while acting for Client A in housing proceedings, resulting in a Default Costs Certificate being issued against the client (£22,888.20). He did not notify Client A of the missed deadline, the Certificate, or subsequent enforcement steps (interest claim of £3,957.77, charging order applications), and provided misleading information (falsely stating the court had assessed the costs). The Tribunal found Allegation 1.1.2 and Allegation 1.2(a) and (b) proved, including dishonesty, and found Allegation 1.1.1 not proved. The Respondent was struck off the roll.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper solicitation or touting
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Misleading information provided to client (false statement that court had assessed costs)
• Conduct deprived client of opportunity to challenge costs and to consider a claim against the Respondent/Firm
• Repeated failures to respond to correspondence and notify client over an extended period
• Lack of transparency amounting to a 'smokescreen'

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent operated under an intense and unsustainable workload (over 200 cases versus a sustainable ~50)
• Respondent sought additional assistance from the Firm which was not forthcoming
• Respondent apologised for his errors
• Respondent offered clients the opportunity to switch to alternative representation
• Respondent was professional and credible in his oral evidence