Guy Nicholas Hurst

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

Guy Nicholas Hurst, a solicitor with over 25 years' experience, was found to have requested clients pay fees into his personal bank account on at least three occasions across two firms (Eric Robinson Solicitors and Keystone Law), taking £2,000 from Client S, £5,000 from Client M and £3,000 from Client J, charging for work not done and spending the funds. He also gave a false warranty to Keystone Law about an ongoing SRA investigation and misled the firm about requesting client payments to his personal account. The Tribunal, proceeding in his absence, found all allegations proven and expressly found dishonesty under Ivey v Genting Casinos, together with breaches of multiple Principles and Accounts Rules. Finding no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered him to pay costs of £6,282.50.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Segregate client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Deliberate and planned misconduct
• Repeated conduct across two firms (at least three occasions)
• Motivated by personal financial gain
• Very experienced solicitor with over 25 years' experience
• Attempted to conceal wrongdoing and misled firm and clients
• Gave false warranty to Keystone Law knowing an SRA investigation was ongoing

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters