Daksheenie Abeyewardene

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

The Respondent, a sole equity partner and head of the immigration department, admitted submitting Legal Aid Agency claims she knew to be improper (2009-2012, at least £800,000 wrongly claimed) and misleading LAA auditors during a January 2015 interview by denying that documents had been added to files. She admitted dishonesty under the Ivey test for both allegations. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers via an Agreed Outcome, found high culpability and substantial harm, no exceptional circumstances despite her ill-health and £800,000 repayment, and ordered her struck off the Roll plus costs of £17,218.75.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Integrity
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Cooperate openly with regulators

Aggravating factors:

• Admitted dishonesty
• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Continued over a period of time (three years)
• Involved concealment of wrongdoing
• Respondent knew or ought to have known conduct breached obligations
• Direct financial impact on the Legal Aid fund

Mitigating factors:

• Repaid £800,000 to the LAA in full and final settlement
• Voluntarily notified the SRA of possible risk of overclaiming
• Cooperated with the SRA throughout the investigation
• Numerous serious chronic illnesses (SLE and APS) causing cognitive decline, exacerbated by stress