Kamla Belshaw

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

Kamla Belshaw, an assistant solicitor at Ford & Warren, was found guilty of conduct unbefitting a solicitor for submitting false travelling expense claims and falsifying time records over the period February 1993 to March 1994. She overclaimed £4,387.07 for mileage (paid into her own pocket), £12,411.84 in travel expenses, and £911.20 in attendance times, inducing the firm to wrongly claim £13,322.93 from clients and/or the Legal Aid Board. The Tribunal found she acted deliberately and dishonestly, seriously abusing her employers' trust. She did not attend or oppose the proceedings, having left the UK. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,232.50.

Duties found breached:

• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate and dishonest course of conduct over an extended period (Feb 1993 to March 1994)
• Serious abuse of employers' position of trust
• Personal financial gain
• Caused employers to make false claims to clients and Legal Aid Board
• Considerable financial loss and embarrassment to the firm