Michael Rowan

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

Michael Rowan, an unregistered barrister, was found to have committed fraud by false representation by submitting three expenses forms claiming expenses to which he was not entitled, for which he was convicted at Ipswich Crown Court in 2019 (26 weeks suspended imprisonment, 180 hours unpaid work). The Tribunal found charges 1-3 (breaches of CD3, rC8, CD5) proven including an express element of dishonesty derived from the conviction, and charge 4 (failure to report the conviction) proven. Although disbarment was the starting point for dishonesty, cogent mitigation led the Tribunal to impose a 3-year suspension instead. No sanction was imposed for charge 4. Costs of £600 ordered against the respondent.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Element of breach of trust

Mitigating factors:

• Conviction admitted
• Amount wrongly claimed was £3,000 or less and expenses were actually incurred
• Repaid in full fairly promptly
• Offending of limited duration and considerable time ago
• Only blemish on an otherwise unblemished career; previous good character
• Cooperated with BSB inquiry
• Strong character references, provided before conviction
• Suffering bereavement (loss of father) and family conflict over the will at the time