Neal Simmons

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

The respondent solicitor was convicted at Guildford Crown Court of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation (relating to a personal injury claim and a road traffic accident insurance claim), receiving concurrent suspended prison sentences plus unpaid work and £18,000 compensation. She admitted the disciplinary allegation. The Tribunal found the allegation proved and, treating the offences as dishonesty offences with aggravating features (conspiracy with a member of the public, planning, repetition, personal gain) and no exceptional circumstances, struck her off the Roll. She was ordered to pay agreed costs of £1,325.21.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Conspiracy involving a member of the public
• Offences were planned
• Offences were repeated
• Offences committed for personal gain
• Offences arose from criminal convictions for conspiracy to commit fraud

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported the matters to the SRA
• Cooperated fully with police and SRA
• Suffering postnatal depression at the time affecting judgment
• Relatively inexperienced solicitor
• No previous disciplinary matters
• Provided character references
• Offences not committed in course of employment