Michael Alexander

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

Michael Alexander, an experienced solicitor, borrowed £100,000 and later a further £25,000 from long-standing clients and personal friends RP & CP for his firm. He discouraged them from taking independent legal advice, failed to disclose that his wife held prior legal charges over the firm's assets that took priority over the clients' security, and made false and misleading reassurances that their money was secure and that they were the only ones fully protected. The Tribunal found six allegations proved (two Rule 3.01 conflict breaches, two Rule 4.02 non-disclosure breaches, and Rule 1.02 integrity breaches), each including express findings of dishonesty under the Twinsectra test. Allegations 5 and 8 were not pursued/proved (5 not proved, 8 as alternative to proven allegation 7). The Respondent was struck off the Roll, his application to suspend the strike-off was refused, and he was ordered to pay agreed costs of £78,785.30. Clients never recovered nearly £100,000 plus interest.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Disclose material information to client
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty proved on multiple allegations
• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over a number of years
• Motivation of self-interest, primarily financial
• Breach of trust - took advantage of a client who was also a personal friend
• Full control over circumstances and an experienced practitioner
• Previous Regulatory Settlement Agreement in 2014 (fined £2,000, costs £7,500)
• Concealed true position from clients from the outset and persisted with subterfuge

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent accepted a moral obligation to repay RP/CP notwithstanding the winding up of AL LLP