Lewis Tresman

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

Lewis Tresman, a barrister called in 1980, knowingly allowed his Chambers to invoice professional fees with added VAT from June 2007 to February 2023 despite knowing he was not registered for VAT (having been deregistered following 2004 bankruptcy). He charged clients/HMRC VAT he was not entitled to, benefitting by roughly £130,000 from the Legal Aid Agency and £18,000 from private clients, while addicted to gambling. Charges 2 and 4 admitted; Charges 1 and 3 (dishonesty) found proved applying Ivey. The Tribunal made an express finding of dishonesty in the upper range and disbarred him with immediate effect. His request to defer the sanction was refused. No order as to costs (BSB sought £1,560) given loss of income from disbarment.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Level of professional experience (called 1980, of many years' call when misconduct began)
• Sole responsibility for the circumstances giving rise to the misconduct
• Position of trust as founding member and pupil master of Chambers
• Put own interests ahead of lay clients
• Misconduct continued for over 15 years
• Element of calculation in failure to repay/regularise VAT status
• Conduct could have amounted to a criminal offence
• Financial benefit of approximately £130,000 (Legal Aid Agency) and £18,000 (privately funded clients)

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted misconduct to Legal Aid Agency and Chambers (though only after LAA contact)
• Full cooperation with the BSB investigation
• Some steps taken to remedy the breach (repaid £22,119.85 in settlement)
• No other regulatory findings
• Gambling addiction/personal circumstances (given very slight weight)
• Stopped gambling immediately when confronted
• Candour and reasonableness before the Tribunal