Neil Lima Frew

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

Neil Lima Frew, a salaried partner at Chambers Solicitors in Bradford, was convicted on 23 November 2016 at Sheffield Crown Court of conspiracy to defraud the Legal Aid Agency, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment suspended for two years plus 200 hours unpaid work. The fraud involved Chambers pretending to use Legal Support Services for interpreter services when these were arranged directly by Chambers, to claim additional money. Dishonesty is the mens rea of fraud and the conviction was conclusive proof. The matter was resolved by agreed outcome on the papers. The Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of £846.84.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Fraudulent activity conducted over a sustained period of time
• Abuse of a position of responsibility
• Lied in police interviews and to the jury

Mitigating factors:

• No evidence that he stood to gain financially as a salaried partner
• Admitted the allegation and recognised the seriousness of the misconduct
• Cooperated by agreeing to the outcome and suspension of practising certificate