Duncan John Dollimore

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

The Respondent, a solicitor, admitted three allegations including repeatedly lying to two clients (Mrs TE and Mr KM) about the progress of their cases, falsely claiming proceedings had been issued, and providing false court case numbers, as well as failing to provide adequate costs information to TAP Ltd. The Tribunal found dishonesty proved (and admitted) on both objective and subjective limbs of Twinsectra. Despite mitigation including personal/health difficulties, good character and no financial loss to clients, the Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances to depart from the normal sanction and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of £10,000 not to be enforced without leave of the Tribunal.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Costs and fee transparency to client

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty repeated and deliberate over a long period of time (July 2010 to June 2013 for Mrs TE)
• Systematic campaign of deceit affecting two clients
• Provided false court case numbers to Mrs TE on two occasions
• Made further false statements to Mr KM at a meeting on 25 July 2013 to prevent a complaint being made

Mitigating factors:

• Full and candid admissions at the earliest opportunity
• Previous good character with no prior disciplinary matters
• Positive testimonials from a Judge and District Judge
• Moderate depressive disorder and significant personal, marital, family and financial difficulties
• No client suffered financial loss
• Prompt resignation when confronted