C A Jongman

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

The Respondent, a solicitor admitted in 1979, failed to disclose his joint legal interest in a Spanish apartment when completing a bankruptcy questionnaire and to his trustee in bankruptcy, maintaining the omission until February 2005. He was convicted at Llanelli Magistrates Court in July 2006 of failing to make a material disclosure in bankruptcy proceedings and fined £3,000. The Tribunal, noting his own admission of dishonesty, found the allegations substantiated and expressly found he committed an act of dishonesty. Despite significant mitigation and a finding he was not a danger to the public, the Tribunal struck him off to preserve the reputation of the profession, and ordered costs of £3,369.44. The Tribunal suggested the Law Society could consider favourable treatment for his future employment.</summary>

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Handle inadvertently received material
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to disclose repeated over nearly three years, until served with court order in February 2005
• Criminal conviction under the Insolvency Act (fined £3,000)

Mitigating factors:

• Acted under considerable emotional and financial pressure following marriage breakdown and bankruptcy
• Single, out-of-character act
• Full cooperation with trustee in bankruptcy once discovered
• Guilty plea at Magistrates Court and full cooperation with Law Society
• Long unblemished career since admission in 1979
• Positive testimonials as to character and ability
• No personal financial gain motive