David Alexander Farbrother

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

The Respondent solicitor provided false information in his CV (claiming current SFLA membership that had lapsed in December 2000), misled his employers about having submitted an SFLA Panel membership application, and falsified his CPD record for 2003/2004 when he had undertaken no CPD. The Tribunal found all allegations substantiated and concluded the Respondent had been guilty of conscious impropriety. He did not attend and admitted matters in correspondence. The Tribunal found him not fit to be a solicitor and struck him off the Roll, ordering him to pay costs of £3,664.70.

Duties found breached:

• Competence
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper solicitation or touting
• Truthful, non-misleading advertising

Aggravating factors:

• No room for dishonesty/impropriety in the solicitors' profession
• Falsified a document (CPD record) and produced it to his employer
• Held himself out to be an SFLA member when membership had lapsed in 2000

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted the matters and asked for the hearing to proceed in his absence
• Family bereavement deflected his focus
• Heavy caseload taken over on an ad hoc basis
• Professional competency not brought into question
• Resigned immediately when confronted