Charles David Myers
Allegation / charges
Breaches
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Charles David Myers, an assistant solicitor at Mintons, admitted four allegations and dishonesty. He backdated Client B's signature on a Legal Aid Client's Declaration and Client A's signature on a Legal Help Form (Form CW1) to dates before submission so the legal aid application would not be refused. He then attempted to amend the date, destroyed the application by placing it in a shredding bag, and made untrue statements to his supervisor and the firm's principals that the application had never been signed and no copy existed. The matter proceeded on a Statement of Agreed Facts and Proposed Outcome. Mr Myers did not contend his mitigation amounted to exceptional circumstances. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay the SRA's costs of £2,322.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Dishonesty proved/admitted
- Conduct involved backdating documents to secure Legal Aid payments
- Concealment by attempting to amend the date and destroying the document
- Made untrue statements to supervisor and firm principals
Mitigating factors:
- Untenable workload and pressure during supervisor's maternity leave (not agreed by SRA)
- Demonstrated candour, remorse and insight
- Admitted conduct to the firm and co-operated with the SRA
- Not directly enriched by his actions
- Came forward of his own volition to reveal wrongdoing