Geoffrey Rushton

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

Geoffrey Rushton, sole owner/director of Rushton Legal Services Ltd, was found to have improperly paid client (estate) money into the firm's overdrawn business account, benefitted from it, made £7,000 of improper withdrawals for his own use, sent a misleading breakdown of charges containing a fictitious bank interest charge, failed to properly execute a power of attorney for an incarcerated client, and sent letters containing deliberate lies about frozen accounts and SRA intervention. He also failed to co-operate with the SRA. The Tribunal made express findings of dishonesty on Allegations 1.1-1.5. He did not attend; the hearing proceeded in his absence. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £21,827.50.

Duties found breached:

• Act only on proper, lawful instructions
• Cooperate openly with regulators
• No improper use of client money
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over many months
• Client A was vulnerable as a serving prisoner
• Respondent sought to conceal matters by lying to client and blaming a former employee
• Respondent knew he was in material breach of his professional obligations
• Motivated by personal financial gain
• Breach of a position of trust

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings (noted, though Tribunal identified no mitigating factors)