Decision record
Oliver James Saxon
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Code of Conduct for Firms 2019, Failures, SRA Principles 2019
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Oliver Saxon, a solicitor and sole owner/COLP of Tyto Law Limited, admitted four allegations relating to the employment of Mr Ben Moore, an unadmitted person subject to a S43 order. He failed to conduct due diligence, provided inaccurate information to the SRA in an application form, permitted the Firm to continue employing/remunerating Mr Moore pending approval, and failed to ensure the SRA's conditions were met. The Tribunal found breaches involving lack of integrity but no express finding of dishonesty. Dealt with on the papers by agreed outcome, the Tribunal imposed a one-month suspension commencing 1 August 2025 and ordered costs of £4,800 (inclusive of VAT).
Duties found breached:
- Proper basis for allegations
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- No acting against a former client
- Firm governance, systems and compliance
Aggravating factors:
- Allowed a person the SRA had deemed unsuitable for legal practice to work for clients without control before permission was granted
- Allowed that person to work mostly unsupervised in non-compliance with conditions after approval
- Allegations included a lack of integrity
- High level of culpability as experienced solicitor, COLP and sole owner ultimately responsible
Mitigating factors:
- Full admissions and cooperation with the SRA investigation
- Misconduct occurred over a limited/short time period
- No client suffered actual loss; neither the Respondent nor the Firm profited
- Isolated instance with no prior or subsequent breaches
- Made an application for approval immediately upon becoming aware of the S43 order
Codes & rules applied
Duties engaged
- Not mislead the court
- Proper basis for allegations
- Cease acting on client perjury or disobedience
- Integrity
- Not mislead third parties or opponents
- No bribery or improper gifts
- Personal probity and fitness to practise
- Uphold public trust in the profession
- Advise objectively, not a mere conduit
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- No acting against a former client
- No improper benefit, loan or bequest
- Firm governance, systems and compliance