Alexander Owusu

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

The Respondent, a solicitor since 2007, employed/remunerated Person A, a struck off solicitor (convicted of conspiracy to facilitate breach of immigration law, sentenced to 8.5 years), who worked on at least 13 immigration client matters at Firm 1. The Respondent failed to conduct due diligence before engaging Person A, continued to remunerate him after learning in July 2016 that he was struck off (contrary to s41 Solicitors Act 1974), and failed to report the matter to the SRA. He admitted all three allegations. The Tribunal found no dishonesty but found a lack of integrity, assessing culpability as medium. He was suspended for 2 years, with the suspension itself suspended for 2 years, subject to a Restriction Order, and ordered to pay agreed costs of £24,000.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Respondent ought reasonably to have known his conduct materially breached his obligations to protect the public and the reputation of the legal profession
• Respondent was an experienced solicitor with direct control over the circumstances

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent had been deceived to some extent by Person A who was not straightforward about his situation
• Took immediate action to terminate the working arrangement once he learned of the striking off
• Single episode in an otherwise long unblemished career
• Made admissions at the start of the hearing reflected in his written Answer
• Expressed remorse and regret
• Good character references provided
• Cooperated with the regulator and the proceedings
• No financial gain (payments were to his own detriment)

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]