(unnamed respondent)

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

This was an appeal under s.44E of the Solicitors Act 1974 against an Adjudication Panel decision of 22 July 2024. The original Panel found Allegation 1 proved in full (the Appellant, as COLP and supervising partner at Clapham Law LLP, authorised/allowed 16 payments totalling £37,544.54 from sale proceeds subject to a valid undertaking, breaching Principles 2 and 5, Para 1.3 of the Code for Solicitors, and Paras 9.1(a)/(b) of the Code for Firms) and Allegation 2 proved in part (loaning £38,944.84 to client DN at 8% interest via his company Hypertek, creating an own-interest conflict; breaches of Principles 2 and 5 and Paras 1.2 and 6.1 found, but breaches of Principles 3 and 7 not proved). The Adjudication Panel imposed a £7,946 financial penalty and £1,350 costs. The SDT, applying the Arslan review approach, found the Appellant had not discharged the burden of showing the decision was wrong or unjust, and dismissed the appeal as having no merit, affirming the s.44D order and ordering the Appellant to pay the Respondent's appeal costs of £16,555. No express finding of dishonesty was made; the original conduct was characterised as a lack of integrity.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues