Christopher John Wood

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

Christopher John Wood, a sole principal solicitor, gave an undertaking to pay WH Limited £450,000 from a purported £470,000 client account stakeholder deposit, but the Trustee in Bankruptcy found he never actually held the money. He failed to honour the undertaking, failed to comply with a High Court order to pay, and failed to respond to OSS and Assigned Risks Pool correspondence. He admitted allegations (ii)-(vi) but denied allegation (i). The Tribunal found his 10 May 1999 letter had been deceitful and misleading and, given the seriousness and absence of mitigation, struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £2,754.95.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Comply with and respect court orders
• Handle inadvertently received material
• Honour professional undertakings
• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Seriousness of giving a false undertaking and misrepresenting client account holdings
• Failed to comply with a Court Order
• Respondent never actually held the money subject to the undertaking

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent appeared to have reported himself to the OSS through his solicitors
• Admitted allegations (ii) to (vi) and breach of the undertaking