John Roger Davis

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

John Roger Davis faced five allegations of conduct unbefitting a solicitor arising from delays in registering Deeds of Variation and failing to comply with a Law Society direction to repay monies. Due to an unexplained delay of over two years by the Law Society breaching Article 6 ECHR reasonable-time requirements, the Tribunal struck out allegations (i), (ii), (iv) and (v). Only allegation (iii)—failure to comply with the direction to repay monies—proceeded, which the Respondent admitted. No dishonesty was alleged or found. Given his two prior Tribunal appearances and continued disdain toward his professional body, the Tribunal imposed an indefinite suspension and ordered costs of £1,000.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Two previous appearances before the Tribunal with substantiated allegations (1996 and 1998)
• Prior finding of failing to comply with a decision of his professional body
• Previously warned by Tribunal that future misconduct would be treated less leniently
• Treated his professional body with disdain and arrogance; made no attempt to comply with the direction

Mitigating factors:

• Precarious financial position / impecuniosity
• Restrictions and delays by the Law Society regarding his practising certificate (given limited weight)