David Elden Howes

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

David Elden Howes, a sole practitioner solicitor of 46 years' experience, was found to have practised without valid PII from July 2019, continued taking on new matters and holding client money without insurance, made two false statements to third parties that valid insurance was in place, and failed to keep any books of accounts. The Tribunal found dishonesty proved on both allegations 1.2 and 1.3 (for the period prior to 25 November 2019 on common law basis, and the 8 January 2020 statement as breach of Principle 4 of the 2019 Principles). The Respondent did not participate. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £6,488.66.

Duties found breached:

• Personal probity and fitness to practise
• Handle inadvertently received material
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Professional indemnity insurance
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty found proved
• Misconduct deliberate, calculated, repeated and continued over a period of time
• Concealed wrongdoing from clients
• Continued to take on new clients while without valid insurance
• Breach of position of trust
• Ought to have known conduct breached obligations to protect public and reputation of profession

Mitigating factors:

• No evidence of actual harm to clients
• No previous disciplinary record
• Some cooperation with the FIO's investigation