Louisa Frances Clapton
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Code of Conduct for Solicitors, REL's & RFL's 2019, Dishonesty, SRA Principles 2019
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Ms Clapton, an in-house solicitor at Pemberton Capital Advisors LLP, was convicted on 24 July 2023 of driving with excess alcohol and using a motor vehicle without insurance following a collision (breath reading 50mcg against a 35mcg limit); she was disqualified for 14 months and fined. She reported the conviction to the SRA. During her practising certificate renewal she provided the SRA (on 7 April 2024) with inaccurate/misleading reasons for delay in responding to information requests, and on or before 21 May 2024 forwarded amended emails to her employer to misrepresent the account she had given the SRA. The Tribunal, on an agreed outcome dealt with on the papers, found her admissions properly made and found her conduct dishonest. It ordered her struck off the Roll and to pay agreed costs of £7,548.00.
Duties found breached:
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
- No conflict between current clients
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- Proper basis for allegations
Aggravating factors:
- Two allegations involving dishonesty
- Conduct was deliberate (knowingly providing untrue information and amending emails to conceal her account)
Mitigating factors:
- Early guilty plea to the criminal offences and compliance with sentence requirements (not agreed by SRA)
- Self-reported conviction to the SRA on the day of conviction (not agreed by SRA)
- Previously unblemished record since admission in 2012 (not agreed by SRA)
Codes & rules applied
Duties engaged
- Act only on proper, lawful instructions
- Advise on alternatives, settlement and outcome
- Avoid wasting the court's time
- Cease acting on client perjury or disobedience
- Client-care and engagement terms
- Client confidentiality
- Competence
- Complaints procedure and handling
- Comply with and respect court orders
- Comply with rules of foreign jurisdictions
- Continuity and handover of representation
- Cooperate openly with regulators
- Costs and fee transparency to client
- Diligence and timeliness
- Disclose adverse law to the court
- Disclose material information to client
- Disclose referrals, commissions and benefits
- Fair dealing with unrepresented parties
- Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
- Full disclosure on ex parte applications
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
- Handle inadvertently received material
- Hold a current practising certificate
- Honour professional undertakings
- Keep client informed and respond promptly
- Maintain competence and CPD
- Manage conflict arising mid-matter
- No abuse of process or coercive powers
- No acting against a former client
- No baseless or threatened misconduct report
- No conflict between current clients
- No direct dealing with represented party
- No improper benefit, loan or bequest
- No improper communication with the court
- No improper fee-sharing or partnership
- No improper questioning of witnesses
- No improper solicitation or touting
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
- No obstruction or victimisation of reporters
- No own-interest conflict
- No payments to witnesses on evidence
- No personal opinion or familiarity with court
- No prejudicial publicity for pending cases
- No standing bail or surety for client
- No taking unfair advantage
- No tampering with or coaching witnesses
- Not mislead the court
- Not mislead third parties or opponents
- Not misrepresent regulated status
- Pay instructed practitioners and agents
- Professional indemnity insurance
- Proper basis for allegations
- Proper termination and return of instructions
- Prosecutorial duty of disclosure
- Prosecutorial fairness and impartiality
- Protect capacity and vulnerable clients
- Protect legal professional privilege
- Report serious misconduct of others
- Safeguard documents and limit liens
- Self-report to the regulator
- Truthful, non-misleading advertising