Anthony Fuller

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

Anthony Fuller, a partner in charge of the Criminal Department at Owen White & Catlin, falsely claimed out-of-hours overtime payments under the firm's LSC-funded scheme for work he had not personally undertaken, across at least 29 client files. The Tribunal found all allegations proved to the criminal standard, including express dishonesty under the Twinsectra test. Despite character references and repayment of the monies, no exceptional circumstances existed and the Tribunal ordered he be struck off the Roll. He was ordered to pay costs (subject to detailed assessment, total schedule £54,185.72) with an interim payment of £15,000 within 28 days. His appeal to the High Court was withdrawn.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• No improper use of client money
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Position of trust as partner in charge of Criminal Department and billing
• Systematic course of conduct over a period across 29 files
• Enhanced his profit share at the expense of fellow partners
• Claimed overtime on files where other fee earners did the work during office hours, making detection difficult

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters
• Repaid the monies claimed
• Impressive character references
• No loss of client monies