Neil Frew

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

Neil Frew, an unregistered barrister also formerly a solicitor, was convicted in 2016 of conspiracy to defraud the Legal Aid Agency by dishonestly claiming payments to a non-existent interpreter agency, receiving a 24-month suspended sentence. He admitted four charges (a fifth withdrawn) including dishonest/discreditable conduct and failing to promptly report his conviction and SRA strike-off to the BSB. The Tribunal, proceeding in his absence with his consent, found dishonesty and imposed disbarment for Charges 1 and 3, with no separate penalty for Charges 4 and 5. No order for costs was made.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest conduct persisted for over four years
• Led to criminal conviction and suspended sentence of imprisonment
• Contested the criminal allegations and was disbelieved by the jury on his oath

Mitigating factors:

• Did not benefit personally from the fraud
• Delay in self-reporting attributable to oversight, not deliberate concealment
• Immediately complied with reporting duty once aware of obligation
• SRA was aware of matters from an early stage