Jonah David Michael

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

Mr Michael, a director in residential conveyancing at Lawrence Stephens Solicitors, admitted five allegations of editing/falsifying email chains sent to clients to appear more efficient, and instructing a trainee to do the same, over a three-month period in 2021. He admitted dishonesty and lack of integrity, breaching Principles 2, 4, 5 and 7 and Paragraph 1.4. The Tribunal, on an agreed outcome, found no exceptional circumstances and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of £5,000.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty across five separate client matters over a three-month period
• Deliberate creation of false documents and falsified emails
• Instructing a trainee solicitor to alter emails, exposing her to serious professional repercussions

Mitigating factors:

• Full cooperation with the SRA and early admission of the allegations
• Personal and health difficulties at the relevant time
• Excessive workload, lack of promised support and unmanageable inherited caseload
• Genuine remorse