Alex Richard Guy

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

Alex Richard Guy, a solicitor and Court of Protection deputy at Switalskis, admitted dishonestly raising bills for work not undertaken or not properly chargeable and improperly transferring £272,917.68 (JH) and £58,759.91 (AS) from vulnerable clients' funds to the firm's office account, purchasing Apple products worth £1,698 with JR's money and keeping them, and providing untruthful/misleading information to the OPG. The Tribunal approved an Agreed Outcome (submitted out of time), finding dishonesty at the highest level with no exceptional circumstances, and struck him off the Roll with costs of £17,000. Allegations 1.1 and 1.5 were withdrawn/dismissed. An application to embargo the judgment pending a criminal investigation was refused.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was dishonest
• Misconduct was deliberate, occurred over a period of time and was repeated
• Conduct took advantage of vulnerable persons
• Acted in breach of a position of trust
• Respondent was a very experienced solicitor aware of relevant Rules and Principles
• Acted to provide benefit to himself
• Ought reasonably to have known conduct materially breached obligations

Mitigating factors:

• Sincere apology to all involved
• Personal circumstances affected his decision making
• Expressed shame and embarrassment for his actions
• Made admissions including to dishonesty