Respondent AN

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

Respondent AN, a solicitor employed at a firm, dishonestly attempted to and did divert client funds for his own benefit between April and May 2021. He asked Client A to pay a £292.50 abortive fee (not actually owed) into his personal bank account, then deleted the relevant emails. He created a false invoice for Client B in the sum of £924 (when only £474 was due), which was never provided, and took a £450 cash payment from Client B without receipt for his own benefit. He asked Client C to split fees and pay £200 into his personal bank account. The Tribunal accepted the Agreed Outcome, finding the allegations (1-4) proved including the admitted dishonesty (breach of Principle 4). Allegation 5 was withdrawn. The Tribunal granted anonymity on Article 2 health grounds. With dishonesty admitted and no exceptional circumstances, the Respondent was struck off. No order for costs was made.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• No conflict between current clients
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was dishonest
• Abuse of position of trust as a solicitor
• Took unfair advantage of clients
• Concealed conduct by deleting key emails and creating a false invoice
• Conduct repeated across multiple clients (A, B and C)

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent made repayments of £450 and £200 to the Firm's client account following dismissal
• Client A did not actually make the diverted payment
• Cooperated by entering into an Agreed Outcome and admitting allegations including dishonesty