Louisa Frances Clapton

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

Ms Clapton, an in-house solicitor at Pemberton Capital Advisors LLP, was convicted on 24 July 2023 of driving with excess alcohol and using a motor vehicle without insurance following a collision (breath reading 50mcg against a 35mcg limit); she was disqualified for 14 months and fined. She reported the conviction to the SRA. During her practising certificate renewal she provided the SRA (on 7 April 2024) with inaccurate/misleading reasons for delay in responding to information requests, and on or before 21 May 2024 forwarded amended emails to her employer to misrepresent the account she had given the SRA. The Tribunal, on an agreed outcome dealt with on the papers, found her admissions properly made and found her conduct dishonest. It ordered her struck off the Roll and to pay agreed costs of £7,548.00.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Two allegations involving dishonesty
• Conduct was deliberate (knowingly providing untrue information and amending emails to conceal her account)

Mitigating factors:

• Early guilty plea to the criminal offences and compliance with sentence requirements (not agreed by SRA)
• Self-reported conviction to the SRA on the day of conviction (not agreed by SRA)
• Previously unblemished record since admission in 2012 (not agreed by SRA)