Christopher James Hawkes

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

Christopher James Hawkes, a solicitor at Clarke Wilmott LLP, removed a client email from the Firm's Document Management System to conceal that he had received it, then sent emails to the client and his supervising partner denying receipt. He admitted the allegations and that his conduct was dishonest. Dealt with on the papers via an Agreed Outcome. The Tribunal found the dishonesty deliberate and calculated, with no exceptional circumstances, and struck him off the Roll, ordering payment of £5,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was deliberate and calculated
• Deliberately misled both his client and his supervising partner
• Deleted communications from the Firm's electronic system to conceal receipt of an email