Nicholas Jackson

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

Nicholas Jackson, Head of Commercial Property at Cullimore Dutton Solicitors, certified copies of a client director's passport and driving licence as true and complete copies of originals on 6 July 2022 and provided them to the lender's lawyers, when he had not inspected the original documents or met the client in person. The Tribunal rejected his defence that high-quality electronic copies constituted originals and that he had seen them during a video call, finding no such call or meeting occurred. Applying Ivey, the Tribunal found his conduct dishonest, and also found a lack of integrity (Wingate), breaching Principles 2, 4 and 5 and paragraph 1.4 of the Code. Absent exceptional circumstances, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £30,480, not to be enforced without leave of the Tribunal given his limited means.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest and planned course of conduct
• Breach of position of trust as employee and as representative of Company A
• Experienced property lawyer aware of the significance of proper certification
• Repeated misrepresentation that documents were certified at the Firm

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings / otherwise unblemished record