Matthew Stephen Becker

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

Matthew Stephen Becker, a solicitor, partner and COLP at Curtis Law LLP, faced two allegations arising from his conduct during his divorce proceedings (December 2014 to June 2016). Allegation 1.1: he disclosed his personal finances in a Form E and Form D81 that he knew or ought to have known were inaccurate, incomplete and misleading to the other party and the Family Court. Allegation 1.2: he caused or allowed monies to be paid into/out of the Firm's client account (a dormant ledger in a family member's name, Person A) other than in respect of an underlying transaction or regulated services, in order to conceal assets during his divorce. He held £15,428.56 (at the Form E date) and £23,428.56 (at the Form D81 date) in that client ledger, which was not disclosed. Mr Becker denied the allegations but represented himself. The Tribunal found both allegations proved, including that his conduct was dishonest under the Ivey test. Given the finding of dishonesty, the Tribunal determined the only appropriate and proportionate sanction was to strike him off the Roll of Solicitors.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank