Lewis Tresman

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

Lewis Tresman, a barrister called in 1980, was deregistered for VAT in December 2004 following bankruptcy and never re-registered. From June 2007 to February 2023 he knowingly allowed his Chambers to invoice clients with added VAT despite knowing he was not VAT-registered, and received that VAT. He claimed he always intended to repay and lacked intent to permanently deprive, but the Tribunal held this misunderstood the law (Ivey v Genting test). It found his conduct dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people. He benefitted by roughly £130,000 from the Legal Aid Agency and around £18,000 from privately funded clients. He attributed his conduct to a gambling addiction. Charges 1 and 3 proved; Charges 2 and 4 admitted. Sanction: disbarment (upper range dishonesty), no exceptional circumstances. No order as to costs.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Respondent's high level of professional experience (called 1980, many years' call when misconduct began)

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted misconduct to Legal Aid Agency and Chambers (though only after Legal Aid Agency made contact in Feb 2023)
• Cooperated fully with the BSB investigation and did not obfuscate
• Some steps taken to remedy the breach (repaid £22,119.85 in settlement)
• No other regulatory findings against him
• Gambling addiction / personal circumstances (given very slight weight)
• Stopped gambling immediately once confronted