Baljinder Hayre

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

The Respondent, sole principal of Hayre & Co, was found to have filed an incorrect (unsigned) plan at the Land Registry contrary to his client's instructions, encumbering Company X's land and leading to a civil negligence claim (damages of £229,970). He was further found to have falsified attendance notes and their contents, and relied on them in defence of the civil claim, deceiving the Court. The Tribunal, applying the Ivey test, found he acted dishonestly (although the civil judge Saffman J had made no express dishonesty finding, the Tribunal inferred dishonesty from the facts). He was also found to have acted where there was a conflict of interest between Company X and NK. The hearing proceeded in his absence after an adjournment application on medical grounds and bereavement was refused as inadequately evidenced. Given the finding of dishonesty and no exceptional circumstances under Sharma, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £7,470.30 (reduced from £23,212.50 claimed due to excessive hours and poor drafting by the Applicant).

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest conduct
• Misconduct extended over a considerable period of time
• Deliberate and planned conduct
• Knew or ought to have known actions were harmful to reputation of legal profession
• Extensive steps taken to conceal his initial error and misrepresent events

Mitigating factors:

• No prior disciplinary findings
• Early partial admissions to allegations 1.3 and 1.4
• Accepted in his Answer that conduct if proved would lead to strike off, showing degree of insight
• Relatively inexperienced solicitor