David Johnson

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

The Respondent, sole director, COLP and MLRO of Johnson Law Ltd, received settlement payments but failed to pay outstanding professional and non-professional disbursements to third-party creditors from around 2011 to January 2018, instead using the money to run the firm. Outstanding sums to creditors ranged from a minimum of £46,490.77 to potentially over £790,000. He also failed to keep accurate accounting records and breached an undertaking to repay a £25,000 business loan. He admitted all allegations and that his conduct was dishonest. On an agreed outcome dealt with on the papers, the Tribunal found dishonesty proven, no exceptional circumstances, and ordered him struck off the Roll plus costs of £7,500.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Honour professional undertakings
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty over a lengthy period (from around 2011 to January 2018)
• Respondent was an experienced solicitor and the firm's sole director, COLP and MLRO, fully aware of duties to protect client money and pay creditors
• Significant sums remained outstanding to multiple third-party creditors
• Failure to notify the SRA of the firm's financial difficulties prior to administration

Mitigating factors:

• Previous unblemished record
• Full co-operation with the SRA's investigations
• Asserted no intention to permanently deprive creditors and made (failed) attempts to address monies owed (mitigation not agreed by SRA)