Robert Leslie Perry

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

Robert Leslie Perry, an assistant solicitor at Burrell Jenkins, faced five allegations. Allegation 1 (improperly requesting a client pay legal fees into his personal account) was found not proved, as neither the client nor the Respondent were reliable witnesses and the SRA could not meet the criminal standard. Allegation 2 (accepting gifts/loans from a client without advising independent legal advice, breaching Principles 2 and 6, lack of integrity) was admitted and proved. Allegation 3 (misleading his employer that he had done GBP 2,000 of work and sending a false invoice) was proved in full including an express finding of dishonesty under the Ivey test; the Tribunal rejected his altruistic explanation and found he sought to conceal the gift and retain the money. Allegation 4 (working on his own account without authority) was proved only in respect of the copyright matter. Allegation 5 (working without PII, breaching Principles 5, 6, 7, Rule 4.1 and Outcome 1.8) was proved in full. Given the dishonesty finding, the Tribunal ordered the Respondent be struck off the Roll and pay costs, reduced from an assessed GBP 22,000 to GBP 11,000 given his modest means and the fact Allegation 1 was not proved.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• No improper communication with the court
• Professional indemnity insurance

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Misconduct continued over a period of time - payments over 4 months and a false invoice perpetuating a lie
• Respondent knew or ought to have known he was in material breach of his obligations
• Purpose of the lie and false invoice was concealment of wrongdoing
• Breach of employer's trust

Mitigating factors:

• Made a number of admissions
• No previous disciplinary matters and a previously unblemished career
• Co-operated with the SRA
• Did not mislead the SRA