Leon Braunstein

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

Leon Braunstein, a solicitor admitted in 1978, faced two consolidated applications. While acting for an Iranian charity, he secretly issued proceedings against it for £205,000, obtained a default judgment, then tricked the client into providing bank details and transferring funds so he could obtain garnishee orders against the client's account. He also failed to account for US$10,781.50 received from Rover. The OSS application established numerous Accounts Rules breaches, misuse of client funds, acting against former clients using confidential information, practising in breach of a practising certificate condition, inadequate supervision of a trainee, and making untrue representations. A High Court judge had found him guilty of dishonest conduct and rejected his evidence. The Respondent did not appear. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, expressly noting dishonesty/lying in court, and struck him off the Roll with costs.</summary>

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• No acting against a former client
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Supervise staff and delegated work
• Hold a current practising certificate

Aggravating factors:

• Flagrant breach of trust against charitable client
• Used deception/tricks to gain access to client's funds via garnishee order
• Blatant use of clients' funds for personal benefit including hire purchase payments
• Found by a High Court judge to have given dishonest evidence on oath
• Repeated and serious breaches of professional rules

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=21338.55"]