Matthew Waterfield

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

Matthew Waterfield, an unadmitted person who ran the day-to-day affairs of EMEA Law Ltd (trading as Cleverson Solicitors) as a consultant, faced allegations under section 43 of the Solicitors Act. He did not engage with proceedings and the Tribunal proceeded in his absence. The Tribunal found all allegations proved: giving unauthorised solicitor's undertakings, dishonestly submitting misleading financial information to Companies House, causing delays in registering 13 properties at HMLR, causing a client account shortage of £12,912.68 with failure to reconcile and submit an Accountant's Report, and failing to set aside funds for VAT liabilities of £83,803.79 which caused the Firm's insolvency. An express finding of dishonesty was made regarding the Companies House filing. The Tribunal imposed an indefinite section 43 order and ordered costs of £12,616.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty in submitting misleading and inaccurate financial information to Companies House
• Experienced legal professional who had previously been sole director of a firm (Centenary Law) that went into administration with debts of ~£724,585.31
• Poor administration and numerous SARs breaches ultimately caused the Firm to become insolvent with direct impact on clients
• Transferred £19,500 to his own consultancy while VAT and client account obligations were outstanding

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters