Benjamin David Tisdall

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

Benjamin David Tisdall, a solicitor and partner at Fursdon Knapper, was found to have misled clients Dr and Mrs A regarding their claim against Galliard Developments Ltd. He told them on 2 May 2018 that he had lodged a claim in court and on 11 February 2019 that he had resubmitted paperwork, when neither was true, and he maintained the misleading impression that proceedings had been issued from May 2018 until he left the Firm in April 2020. The Tribunal found all allegations proved and made express findings of dishonesty. The Tribunal also refused to admit Dr A's hearsay witness statement due to the absence of good reason for non-attendance. Finding high culpability and dishonesty with no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck the Respondent off the Roll and ordered him to pay costs of £19,877.04.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was dishonest
• Misconduct repeated over a two-year period
• Senior position as partner and level of experience
• Clear breach of trust with clients
• Some degree of planning in maintaining the false impression

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings; unblemished professional history
• Considerable workload and challenging schedule (in court 80% of the time)
• Expressed remorse for poor level of service