A junior solicitor who lied in a pupillage application that he had been awarded a prize for best overall performance during his final undergraduate year has been struck off after he admitted acting with dishonesty and a lack of integrity.
Maxmillian Alexander Knowles Campbell, admitted in March 2020, was an associate at magic circle firm Slaughter and May at the time. He was alleged to have provided information on his pupillage application that he knew was inaccurate and misleading by stating he had attained a double first starred first degree in BA (Law) from Cambridge University and the ‘Slaughter and May Prize’ for best overall performance.
In fact he finished Cambridge with a 2:1 degree and the university confirmed he had not been awarded any prizes by the law faculty.
Campbell, who is no longer with Slaughter and May and has not worked as a solicitor since April 2022, admitted all the allegations against him including that he had been dishonest and lacked integrity.
In its judgment the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said it was ‘satisfied on the balance of probabilities’ that Campbell’s admissions were ‘properly made’.
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In mitigation, which was not disputed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the tribunal was told Campbell was a junior solicitor, had been practising for only two years at the time of the misconduct, had demonstrated ‘remorse and insight into his conduct’ and ‘cooperated fully with the regulatory process’.
The three-person panel said: ‘The respondent’s conduct in submitting a false application to Erskine Chambers was a deliberate and positive act, designed to gain advantage through the selection process. It was not a momentary lapse or a reaction to immediate pressure, but a sustained course of conduct. The respondent had multiple opportunities to correct the dishonesty, including during two successive interviews and in addition, in communications with his referee, but chose not to do so.’
It added that Campbell’s dishonesty was ‘not isolated, and the surrounding circumstances…did not justify a departure from the presumptive sanction’.
Campbell was struck off and ordered to pay £6,110 costs.
