Christopher James Hawkes

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

Mr Hawkes, admitted in September 2021 and employed at Clarke Wilmott LLP, removed an email received from Client A from the Firm's Document Management System to conceal that he had received it, then sent emails to the client and his supervising partner denying receipt. He admitted the allegations, including dishonesty. Dealt with on the papers via an Agreed Outcome, the Tribunal found the dishonesty deliberate and calculated with no exceptional circumstances, and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of £5,000.

Duties found breached:

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

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest conduct was deliberate and calculated
• Deliberately misled both client and supervising partner
• Deleted communications from the Firm's electronic system