Iorwerth John Morris and Michael John Elliott

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

Two Swansea solicitors, partners in I J Morris & Partners, admitted employing a struck-off solicitor (Philip Nigel Rees) without the Law Society's written permission, contrary to s.41 Solicitors Act 1974, a strict liability offence. The Tribunal preferred the evidence of the second Respondent (Elliott), finding he was unaware consent had not been obtained and acted swiftly once he learned of the situation; he was suspended for 7 days. The first Respondent (Morris), who was managing partner responsible for administration, had not attended, was found not truthful, and having voluntarily removed his name from the Roll was prohibited from restoration except by Tribunal order. No express finding of dishonesty was made. Costs of £2,372.32 were ordered jointly and severally.

Duties found breached:

• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate employment of a struck-off solicitor who had contact with the public
• First Respondent found not to have told the truth in correspondence and failed to attend the Tribunal
• First Respondent did not inform his partners of the OSS correspondence

Mitigating factors:

• Second Respondent unaware that written consent had not been obtained; matter was inadvertence rather than intention
• Second Respondent acted rapidly once he learned the situation, dismissing Mr Rees and having the First Respondent removed from the partnership
• Second Respondent had an impeccable 27-year record
• OSS had not corresponded directly with the Second Respondent

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_suspension_months=0.23"]