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This is a very useful judgment by Mr Justice Mostyn. The current disciplinary system should be reformed. The same ethical themes keep appearing time after time and might be reduced by a mandatory ethics course for everyone every year (like a fire drill, it's bothersome but it could save your life). Too many people, as in the subject case, are making silly mistakes. In the cases one reads of, the careers, livelihoods, families and personal lives of good people who have invested years of study, experience, money and graft are all devastated by punitive measures, essentially for doing stupid (ie fallible) things. The Malins case should have been resolved by one regulator applying PC restrictions over years, a reprimand severe or otherwise and perhaps, a fine. Costs maximum £500. Striking off should be the ultimate sanction for serious criminality, not the default option. The SRA and everyone else's costs alone should weigh against the current sledgehammer to crack a nut approach. If this was the Magistrates Court, the mitigation would be that the mere imposition of a conviction was punishment enough – if someone makes a mistake, it doesn't mean they're also a crook.

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