Duncan Peter Burtwell

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

Duncan Peter Burtwell, a consultant solicitor, failed to disclose a warrant in his possession that was relevant to Client A's litigation against Hampshire Constabulary, and signed two misleading witness statements (21 June 2019 and 29 November 2019) concerning his knowledge and possession of the warrant. He admitted all allegations including dishonesty. The matter was dealt with on the papers by way of an Agreed Outcome. The Tribunal found the misconduct serious, involving misleading the court and dishonesty over several months, with no exceptional circumstances. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay £15,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty admitted
• Conduct spanned several months and was not momentary
• Repeated failures to correct the misleading impression despite multiple opportunities
• Misled the court, counsel and the defendant
• Initially sought to minimise wrongdoing in draft statements to supervisor

Mitigating factors:

• Self-referral to the SRA
• Full admissions and cooperation
• No previous regulatory history
• Personal and professional isolation, lack of formal training and supervision, possible depression
• Frustration at the defendant's litigation tactics on behalf of a publicly funded client