Julia Cooper

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

Julia Cooper, a sole practitioner solicitor admitted in 1993, was found to have facilitated an attempted purchase of an elderly client's (Ms S) major property asset by her own civil partner (G) at a known undervalue, drafted an onerous agreement (the S-G Agreement) advantageous to G, caused Ms S to sign declarations that she had received independent legal advice when this was untrue, made false/misleading statements to the SRA about whether Ms S was her client, and drafted a 2020 will appointing herself sole executrix and beneficiary of Ms S's estate. The Tribunal found all five allegations proved and made express findings of dishonesty on allegations 1.1, 1.3 and 1.4 (the latter limited to statements about Ms S's client status). The Tribunal found no mitigating factors and no exceptional circumstances, and ordered her to be struck off the Roll and to pay costs of £44,978.90. An appeal to the High Court was dismissed by consent on 10 January 2023.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Proven dishonesty
• Deliberate and calculated conduct
• Continued over a period of time
• Took advantage of elderly client who trusted her
• Sought to conceal conduct by making allegations against former civil partner and denying client relationship
• Motivated by financial gain
• Planned actions
• No insight displayed