Sally Gandon

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

The Respondent, a locum family law solicitor admitted in 1980, falsified her client's signature on a Notice of Severance during divorce proceedings on 11 August 2020 and sent it to the client's husband, giving the misleading impression the client had signed. She admitted the conduct including dishonesty. The matter was dealt with on the papers via an agreed outcome. The Tribunal found dishonesty with no exceptional circumstances and struck her off the Roll, ordering costs of £3,304.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate and planned conduct to conceal loss of original document
• Experienced solicitor of over 40 years aware of relevant rules
• Direct control and responsibility for the misconduct
• Potential financial harm to client and harm to reputation of profession

Mitigating factors:

• Genuine and sincere apology
• Isolated and momentary misconduct with no repetition
• Previously exemplary and unblemished character
• Co-operated with SRA investigation and SDT proceedings
• Under significant personal and emotional pressure at the time
• Genuine belief she was assisting an emotionally distressed client