Nicola Cain

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

Ms Nicola Cain, a barrister, admitted charges arising from fabricating a court order purporting to be made by Senior Master Fontaine in High Court proceedings. She created the Fabricated Order with the dishonest intention of deceiving her client, omitting/altering material terms (disclosure obligations, a £9,000 costs order including its indemnity basis and payment date, application costs, witness statement requirement, preamble and filing dates), and on 3 January 2020 emailed it to her client, deliberately misleading the client as to the genuine order's content. She also failed to notify her client of, or seek instructions on, the Claimants' November 2019 applications, and on 23 December 2019 signed and served a witness statement falsely and dishonestly stating she was authorised to make it. The Tribunal made express findings of dishonesty. Mitigation included early admission, self-reporting, genuine remorse, and co-operation. The specific sanction is not legible in the provided extract; the report was approved on 8 February 2022.

Duties found breached:

• Full disclosure on ex parte applications
• Cease acting on client perjury or disobedience
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Handle inadvertently received material

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted the misconduct early in the proceedings
• Self-reporting
• Expressed genuine remorse
• Co-operated with the investigation