Stuart Michael Stones

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

The Respondent, a former member of Ratio Law LLP, used the firm's letterhead to send letters of comfort to third parties after he had left the firm in January 2015 and was no longer authorised to practise. He falsely held himself out as having the firm's authority, made untrue statements that the firm was instructed by SFES Capital, made untrue statements to a solicitor concealing the number of letters in circulation, and practised without professional indemnity insurance. The Tribunal proceeded in the Respondent's absence and found all four allegations proved beyond reasonable doubt, including dishonesty on allegations 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 under the Twinsectra test. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £7,487.80.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Misconduct was deliberate, planned and repeated over a period of months
• Attempted to conceal wrongdoing by committing further misconduct
• Misled the regulator
• Experienced solicitor operating at partner level
• High culpability and very high harm to reputation of profession