Alex Ronney Bevan Pereira

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

Sole practitioner Alex Pereira, whose immigration practice was almost entirely Green Form legal-aid funded, faced allegations of fraudulent legal aid claims, inadequate supervision of unqualified staff, and failing to notify the Immigration Appellate Authority of hearing changes. He admitted the supervision and notification allegations. The Tribunal found the files characterised by standardised attendance notes, self-generated undated interpreter invoices, duplicate claims for both interpreters and representatives, and blank attendance notes used to claim significant time. It expressly found the Respondent acted dishonestly within the Twinsectra test in submitting claims to the Legal Aid Board, and found he had misled the Commission about qualified staff. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £14,205.07.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• No improper communication with the court
• No taking unfair advantage
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Large sums claimed from public funds (£888,663 over three years)
• Systematic standardisation of attendance notes and interpreter invoices generated to authenticate claims
• Vulnerable client base (asylum seekers)
• Respondent was sole principal with largely no qualified staff
• Misleading the Legal Aid Board about staff qualifications
• Unsatisfactory evidence in the witness box, evasive answers

Mitigating factors:

• Loss of firm and livelihood
• Compromised Legal Services Commission proceedings by paying £30,000
• Had to meet costs of Law Society intervention
• No client complaints received