Decision record
Respondent AE
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Lack of Integrity, SRA Principles 2011
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Respondent AE, a consultant prison law solicitor, fabricated four fictitious clients and created false documents suggesting she had provided representation and attended prison visits (including false DIS1 forms and handwritten notes) enabling billing of the LAA and mileage claims. She made full admissions including to dishonesty. The Tribunal found Principles 2 and 6 breached and dishonesty proved. It rejected her assertion that health-related exceptional circumstances justified a lesser sanction and struck her off the Roll. Given her limited means, costs were reduced from the £23,550 claimed to a £6,000 contribution. She was granted anonymity, a private hearing and non-publication of her name due to unchallenged medical evidence of serious risk to her health.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Admitted dishonesty
- Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
- Misconduct took place over a period of time (October-November 2018)
- Sought to conceal misconduct by subsequently fabricating false documents when challenged
- Must have known conduct breached obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession
- Motivated by financial gain
Mitigating factors:
- Open and frank admissions to the Firm and the Applicant
- Previously unblemished regulatory history