Respondent AO

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

An employed solicitor for Company A provided false information to the Leeds Employment Tribunal by claiming in a 5 June email she had a hearing elsewhere on 9 June (which was false) and by submitting a fabricated Notice of Preliminary Hearing on 19 June to support that claim. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, including dishonesty under the Ivey test, relying heavily on contemporaneous documentation and the fabricated document's anomalies. She was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £19,365 (reduced from £47,392 due to costs increase and her financial means). The Tribunal granted anonymity due to serious health/suicide risk.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Finding of dishonesty (main aggravating feature)
• Concealment of wrongdoing
• Attempt to place blame on others (Company A and HMCTS employees)
• Knew or ought to have known conduct breached obligations to protect the public and the profession's reputation
• High culpability as an experienced solicitor
• High level of harm to the profession's reputation

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished professional record
• No evidence of harm to clients or third parties
• Significant passage of time (events over a decade old) limiting access to files/corroborative evidence
• Personal difficulties including ill health
• Positive character testimonials
• Gave evidence calmly and professionally