Alison Haley Griffiths
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Client Money, Code of Conduct 2011, Code of Conduct for Solicitors, REL's & RFL's 2019, Criminal Convictions, Dishonesty, SRA Principles 2011, SRA Principles 2019
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Solicitor Alison Haley Griffiths, while acting under Lasting Powers of Attorney, misappropriated £49,482.52 from Client A and £35,790 from Person B. She was convicted of fraud by abuse of position (section 4 Fraud Act 2006) and sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment on each count concurrently at Salisbury Crown Court. She admitted all allegations. The Tribunal dealt with the matter on the papers by Agreed Outcome and found her dishonest. The misconduct was extremely serious and only a strike off would protect the public and the profession's reputation. No order as to costs was made.
Duties found breached:
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
- No conflict between current clients
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- No taking unfair advantage
Aggravating factors:
- Dishonesty (advanced as an aggravating feature in respect of allegation 1.1 for the period up to 25 November 2019)
- Misappropriation of vulnerable clients' funds while acting under Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Criminal convictions for fraud by abuse of position
- Funds used for personal benefit including goods and a holiday
Codes & rules applied
Duties engaged
- Act only on proper, lawful instructions
- Advise on alternatives, settlement and outcome
- Avoid wasting the court's time
- Cease acting on client perjury or disobedience
- Client-care and engagement terms
- Client confidentiality
- Competence
- Complaints procedure and handling
- Comply with and respect court orders
- Comply with rules of foreign jurisdictions
- Continuity and handover of representation
- Cooperate openly with regulators
- Costs and fee transparency to client
- Diligence and timeliness
- Disclose adverse law to the court
- Disclose material information to client
- Disclose referrals, commissions and benefits
- Fair dealing with unrepresented parties
- Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
- Full disclosure on ex parte applications
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
- Handle inadvertently received material
- Hold a current practising certificate
- Honour professional undertakings
- Keep client informed and respond promptly
- Maintain competence and CPD
- Manage conflict arising mid-matter
- No abuse of process or coercive powers
- No acting against a former client
- No baseless or threatened misconduct report
- No conflict between current clients
- No direct dealing with represented party
- No improper benefit, loan or bequest
- No improper communication with the court
- No improper fee-sharing or partnership
- No improper questioning of witnesses
- No improper solicitation or touting
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- No obstruction or victimisation of reporters
- No own-interest conflict
- No payments to witnesses on evidence
- No personal opinion or familiarity with court
- No prejudicial publicity for pending cases
- No standing bail or surety for client
- No taking unfair advantage
- No tampering with or coaching witnesses
- Not mislead the court
- Not mislead third parties or opponents
- Not misrepresent regulated status
- Pay instructed practitioners and agents
- Professional indemnity insurance
- Proper basis for allegations
- Proper termination and return of instructions
- Prosecutorial duty of disclosure
- Prosecutorial fairness and impartiality
- Protect capacity and vulnerable clients
- Protect legal professional privilege
- Report serious misconduct of others
- Safeguard documents and limit liens
- Self-report to the regulator
- Truthful, non-misleading advertising