[2012] EWHC 3256 (Admin)

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was entitled to take into account the fact that a solicitor was an evasive witness in a Newton hearing when deciding to strike him off the roll of solicitors for misappropriating client money and breaching the conditions of his practising certificate. Although the Newton hearing had only arisen because the Solicitors Regulation Authority was unwilling to accept the basis of plea of the solicitor's employer, it would have been unreal for the tribunal to ignore its own adverse finding against the solicitor at that hearing when deciding on the appropriate sanction for the admitted offences.

DC (Elias LJ, Singh J)

26/10/2012