10 October 2014
Brett v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2014] EWHC 2974 (Admin), [2014] All ER (D) 82 (Sep)
The appellant in-house solicitor for a newspaper appealed against the finding of the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal (the SDT) that he was guilty of failing to act with integrity and knowingly allowing the judge to be misled in the conduct of litigation. The Divisional Court, in allowing the appeal in part, held that the judge had been misled. The SDT, having disavowed making any finding of dishonesty, could not properly proceed to make a finding that the appellant had knowingly allowed the judge to be misled. However, it was inevitable that the SDT would have found him guilty on the basis that he had recklessly allowed the judge to be misled.
