Paul Anthony Gibbon

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

Solicitor Paul Anthony Gibbon was found to have dishonestly procured a client (Ms Grey) to pay £235,000 into his personal account believing it was a solicitors' client account, forged/procured her signature on a letter of authority, diverted £30,000 due to her into his personal account, failed to keep her informed, failed to account for funds, gave and breached an unauthorised undertaking, failed to pay counsel's fees, and invoiced for counsel's fees not incurred. He also failed to respond to the SRA. The Tribunal found express dishonesty in allegations 1.1-1.5. With no exceptional circumstances, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £34,091.04. Proceedings were conducted in his absence.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Continuity and handover of representation
• Advise on alternatives, settlement and outcome
• Costs and fee transparency to client
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Findings of dishonesty
• Deliberate, calculated and repeated misconduct over more than a year
• Repeated attempts to conceal wrongdoing
• Previous 1994 disciplinary finding including paying client money into personal account
• Failure to co-operate with the SRA
• Considerable financial harm to client (over £80,000 counsel's fees unpaid, £235,000 paid)