Career ends in disgrace: Clarke Wilmott lawyer erased for deleting client email

Christopher Hawkes, 53, was struck off and fined £5,000 after concealing a client’s email at Clarke Wilmott

A solicitor who entered the profession late has been struck off after admitting dishonesty in an act that destroyed his short-lived career.

Christopher Hawkes, aged 53, qualified as a solicitor in September 2021. Just one year later, he was dismissed from national firm Clarke Wilmott after deliberately concealing a client email to hide his mistake.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) heard that Hawkes removed an email from his firm’s document management system in May 2022. The message had been sent by a client in a debt recovery case. Hawkes failed to respond. When the client later followed up with his supervising partner, Hawkes panicked. He deleted the original email and then told both the client and his supervisor that he had never received it.

The activity log revealed the deletion. Hawkes admitted that he acted to prevent others from discovering he had overlooked the message. He acknowledged dishonesty and accepted that he had made a calculated attempt to cover up his error.

The SDT noted that the misconduct involved only one client and was not part of a broader pattern. However, it emphasised that Hawkes’s behaviour had been deliberate, dishonest, and aimed at deceiving both his employer and the client. Such conduct, the tribunal ruled, undermines the trust placed in solicitors and cannot be tolerated.

Hawkes, who worked in Clarke Wilmott’s private client and commercial litigation team in Southampton, was dismissed for gross misconduct in September 2022 after a disciplinary hearing confirmed his actions.

The tribunal heard that Hawkes felt isolated while working from home and described himself as “out of his depth and unable to ask for support from supervisors.” In mitigation, he said he lacked the confidence to seek help when he made mistakes. Nonetheless, the SDT concluded that these personal difficulties did not excuse his dishonesty.

Hawkes agreed with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that he should be struck off the roll of solicitors. He did not argue any exceptional circumstances that might have persuaded the tribunal to impose a lesser sanction.

The SDT ordered him to pay £5,000 in costs. While the panel recognised that the misconduct was a single episode, it stressed that solicitors hold a privileged position that depends on complete honesty. Any attempt to conceal errors erodes the public’s trust in the legal profession.

The case illustrates the immense pressures facing newly qualified and late-qualified solicitors alike. Hawkes joined the profession after years in other fields, but within twelve months, his career had collapsed under the weight of one grave decision.

Observers noted that the incident underlines how remote working, isolation, and lack of confidence can exacerbate stress among legal professionals. Yet, the tribunal made clear that these circumstances cannot justify dishonesty.

For Hawkes, the decision marked a devastating end to a career he had only just begun. For the wider profession, it served as another reminder that the standards of integrity expected of solicitors remain absolute, regardless of background, age, or personal difficulties.

The SRA, which regulates over 160,000 practising solicitors in England and Wales, continues to take a firm line on dishonesty. Even isolated acts can result in permanent removal from the profession, as this case once again demonstrates.

Hawkes’s downfall is now recorded as a cautionary tale: one moment of concealment, a single deleted email, and a career erased.