Sandra Campbell

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

Sandra Campbell, a sole practitioner solicitor, was found to have misappropriated £164,264 from Client A (property sale proceeds) and £17,000 from Client B (personal injury damages), transferring over £50,000 to office account without justification and depleting the client account to £5.16. She repeatedly made misleading statements to both clients, to the SRA, and to the Court, falsely representing that funds remained available and that payment was imminent when it was not. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, including express findings of dishonesty under Principle 4 applying the Ivey test for each set of misleading conduct. The hearing proceeded in her absence as she had actively disengaged. Finding high culpability, significant harm and no exceptional circumstances under SRA v Sharma, the Tribunal struck her off the Roll and ordered costs of £25,114.40 (reduced from £29,434.40 claimed).

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• No improper use of client money
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Multiple findings of dishonest conduct
• Repeated and sustained conduct over several months (September-December 2020)
• Misappropriation of substantial client funds totalling over £180,000
• Misleading statements made to two clients, the regulator and the Court
• Experienced solicitor (admitted 1998, sole practitioner since 2012, COLP and COFA)
• Knew conduct materially breached her obligations
• Cynically misled clients causing substantial distress
• Personal benefit from the dishonesty

Mitigating factors:

• No prior disciplinary findings since admission in 1998
• Partial payment by instalments made to Client A (very limited mitigation)
• Unevidenced references to personal and health pressures