Mark Kenneth George Bennett - J

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

Mark Kenneth George Bennett, a partner in Douglas Clift and Co conducting claimant personal injury work, made or instigated payments exceeding £100,000 from the firm's office account to clients while falsely representing that proceedings had been issued, settlements offered/received, and matters progressed, when in reality claims had often lapsed beyond limitation. He misled clients over years, failed to advance claims, failed to enter proper CFAs, and recorded payments against unrelated client ledgers. The Tribunal found all eight allegations proved, including dishonesty, which the Respondent admitted. Despite mitigation including stress-related illness, contrition, and efforts to repay losses, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £20,000 with immediate effect.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Competence
• Honesty
• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct over a lengthy period (2005 to 2010)
• Multiple client matters affected (eight exemplified)
• Deliberate and knowing lying to clients
• Payments in excess of £100,000 made from firm's office account causing shortfall
• Firm exposed to claims and impact on professional indemnity insurance
• Recorded payments against unrelated client ledgers

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary history
• Admitted all allegations including dishonesty
• Cooperated and reviewed files to establish true position
• Voluntarily relinquished capital (~£130,000) and made payments to make good losses
• Apologised to affected clients
• Stress and depression at relevant times (medical report of Dr Schauder)
• Positive testimonials