Alison Clare Banerjee

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

The Respondent, an experienced employment solicitor at Hunt and Coombs LLP, admitted six allegations of misconduct involving repeated dishonesty between September 2021 and January 2023. She provided misleading information to the Employment Tribunal (falsely blaming IT issues), misled Client A about a wasted costs order, settled and withdrew Client A's claim without instructions and signed a settlement agreement on his behalf, falsely told Client A his hearing had been adjourned, misled Client B that there was 'an offer on the table' when none existed, and misled Client C that his case had been listed when it had not. The Tribunal expressly found the misconduct involved serious, deliberate and repeated dishonesty. It refused an application for anonymity, finding open justice outweighed the Respondent's mental health concerns. Accepting the agreed outcome, the Tribunal found the case did not fall within the small residual category and ordered the Respondent be struck off the Roll and pay costs of £12,000.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Misconduct continued over a period of time
• Serious acts of dishonesty involving deliberately misleading clients and the Employment Tribunal
• Significant harm caused to clients who were unable to pursue their claims

Mitigating factors:

• Over 12 years' practice with an otherwise exemplary record
• Health issues/deteriorating mental health at the material time
• Early admissions and cooperation with the SRA investigation