Neil Ian Benson

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

The Respondent, a solicitor, acted for a client on an adverse possession claim but failed to materially progress the matter over roughly 18 months despite being chased 14 times. On 29 September 2014 he created 6 false letters purportedly addressed to the Welsh Land Registry and placed them on the client file to conceal his failure to submit the application. He admitted the breaches of SRA Principles 2, 4, 5 and 6 and admitted dishonesty. The matter was dealt with on the papers by way of an agreed outcome. The Tribunal found the allegations proved and ordered that the Respondent be struck off the Roll of Solicitors and pay costs of £5,429.70.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct involved dishonesty
• Deliberate and repeated breach
• Misconduct continued over a period of time
• Involved concealment of wrongdoing
• Respondent knew or ought to have known conduct breached obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

• Voluntarily self-reported to the SRA
• Made open and frank admissions at an early stage and cooperated
• No prior regulatory or disciplinary history
• Was dealing with challenging personal circumstances, stress and depression, supported by medical evidence