Philip John Burbidge

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

Philip John Burbidge, a consultant solicitor at Battens Solicitors, was found to have dishonestly told clients in a letter dated 4 November 2016 that pre-action protocol letters had been sent to three defendants when they had not (proved with dishonesty, breaching Principles 2 and 6). He also recklessly failed to comply with Consent and Unless Orders in a construction dispute, leading to his clients' claims being struck out and adverse costs orders, and failed to seek client instructions, including notifying clients of a without prejudice costs offer a day after it expired. The Tribunal found high culpability and harm, no exceptional circumstances, and struck him off the roll. He did not engage with proceedings. Costs of £16,624.56 were ordered.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty found
• Misconduct persisted over a period approaching 2 years
• Conduct indicative of concealment
• No genuine insight demonstrated
• Failure to cooperate with the Regulator
• Harm to clients who faced unexpected costs orders

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings