Raymond John McKeeve

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

Raymond John McKeeve, a Registered Foreign Lawyer and partner at Jones Day, admitted that on 4 July 2019, on being told a Search Order had been obtained, he instructed an IT manager to 'burn it' regarding the 3CX messaging platform, leading to its irretrievable deletion and a 2022 finding of criminal contempt of court. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6 and Outcome 5.4. It expressly found no dishonesty, assessing culpability as medium and harm as high. He was suspended for 2 years and ordered to pay costs of £20,000 (reduced from the £30,930 claimed).

Duties found breached:

• Disclose adverse law to the court
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Determination that he was criminally liable for contempt of court

Mitigating factors:

• Cooperated with the SRA throughout the investigation and proceedings
• Single episode of very brief duration
• Previously unblemished professional career spanning over 25 years
• Demonstrated insight, remorse and remediation
• No dishonesty or premeditation; spontaneous act motivated by protecting his wife's privacy
• Conduct limited in scope; only one messaging application deleted while all other devices surrendered