David James Chalcraft

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

David James Chalcraft, a salaried partner and COFA at Alexander & Partners, admitted five allegations including dishonestly misleading Client A for over a decade about a clinical negligence claim struck out in December 2012 due to his own failure, and settling Client B's claim in 2017 without instructions while misleading him for years. He also improperly retained client monies, provided a banking facility from the client account, and failed to obtain accountant's reports. The Tribunal approved the agreed outcome, finding dishonesty (admitted for pre-25 Nov 2019 conduct on allegations 1 and 2), and ordered him struck off the Roll and to pay £10,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• No improper use of client money
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty admitted against numerous persons
• Misconduct sustained over more than a decade (Client A) and over five years (Client B)
• Deliberate concealment and repeated misleading correspondence
• Serious harm caused to clients including loss of ability to pursue claim

Mitigating factors:

• Eventual admission and full confession of the truth to Client A
• Admitted all allegations and dishonesty
• Reduced financial means