Matthew Stephen Becker
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Client Money, Code of Conduct 2011, Dishonesty, Lack of Integrity, Solicitors Accounts Rules 2011, SRA Principles 2011
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Matthew Stephen Becker, a solicitor and partner at Curtis Law LLP, was found to have concealed assets during his divorce by failing to disclose capital held on his behalf within the Firm (over £15,000 in Form E and over £23,000 in Form D81), providing inaccurate and misleading financial disclosure to his wife and the Family Court. He also caused monies to be paid out of the Firm's client account in breach of Rule 14.5 (though the Tribunal did not find he caused monies to be paid into the account). The Tribunal found both allegations proved, including an express finding of dishonesty under the Ivey test, as well as lack of integrity. Given the dishonesty and absence of exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered him to pay reduced costs of £23,655.68.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Proven dishonesty
- Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over a period of time
- Planned concealment of assets (specifically requested drawings not be paid, capital retained)
- Experienced solicitor who knew his conduct was improper
Mitigating factors:
- Previous good character/no prior disciplinary matters
- Level of insight shown regarding errors
- Positive references submitted
- Full co-operation with the SRA