Tapfumanei Nyawanza

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

Tapfumanei Nyawanza, a solicitor, admitted that while at DWFM he dishonestly received £76,952 in client fees (including £60,602 across 141 transactions plus £16,350 from Company M) into his personal bank account for work undertaken on behalf of the firm, and that while at Mezzle he failed to open client files or keep adequate documentation. The Tribunal, on an agreed outcome decided on the papers, found his conduct dishonest (deliberate, calculated and repeated) in breach of Principle 4, along with breaches of Paragraph 1.4, Principles 2 and 5, and Paragraph 3.2/Principle 2. With no exceptional circumstances, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay £25,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Diligence and timeliness
• Honesty
• Integrity
• No conflict between current clients
• Not mislead third parties or opponents

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Conduct spanned approximately two years
• 141 separate transactions from 102 unique payors
• Motivated by personal financial advantage
• Moderately senior practitioner (admitted 11 years at time of misconduct)
• Caused or risked harm to firms, clients and the reputation of the profession
• Previous disciplinary finding (fined £12,500 in 2022)

Mitigating factors:

• Early and full admissions during SRA interview and in his Answer
• Respondent claimed DWFM failed to pay commissions on time creating financial pressure (not agreed by SRA)
• Respondent claimed he mostly completed the work clients instructed (not agreed by SRA)