Tribunal found solicitor acted dishonestly over backdated disclosure letter
A solicitor has been struck off after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found he created a falsely dated legal letter and misled both his employer and another law firm during litigation proceedings.
The tribunal ruled that Joseph Elliott Dawson acted dishonestly while working at Leigh Day in connection with a personal injury claim linked to a cruise ship accident. The hearing took place between 14 and 16 April 2026, with the judgment published on 29 April 2026. The tribunal found that the allegations against Dawson proved and ordered that he be struck off the roll of solicitors.
According to the ruling, the case centred on a court order requiring disclosure of documents by specific deadlines during litigation. The tribunal found that Dawson failed to provide inspection documents by the required date of 29 May 2023.
The tribunal concluded that, on or around 20 and 21 June 2023, Dawson created a letter falsely dated 26 May 2023, which claimed documents for inspection had already been enclosed and sent to the opposing solicitors.
The judgment stated that the letter was later sent under cover of correspondence dated 21 June 2023, which suggested the original letter had previously been dispatched. However, the tribunal accepted evidence from the defendant’s solicitor that the documents and letter had not been received before 21 June.
An internal investigation by the firm’s IT department found no evidence that the completed letter existed on the system before 20 June 2023. The tribunal also heard evidence that there were no records showing the letter had been printed or that discs containing disclosure documents had been created and posted when Dawson claimed they had been sent.
The tribunal found Dawson was not a credible witness and rejected his explanation that technical or system issues caused the document problems. It concluded that he created the letter after concerns were raised about missed disclosure deadlines.
The panel further ruled that Dawson provided misleading information to his employer by falsely claiming disclosure had already taken place. The tribunal said his conduct breached Principles 2, 4, and 5 of the SRA Principles 2019, along with paragraph 1.4 of the SRA Code of Conduct.
In its findings, the tribunal stated that ordinary decent people would regard it as dishonest for a solicitor to create a document intended to give the impression it had been produced at an earlier date. Alongside the strike-off order, Dawson was ordered to pay costs of £36,255.