Past disciplinary findings

Jonathan Edwards, a practising barrister, on or around dates between January 2021 and June 2021, arranged for a third-party provider to hold his lay client’s money and did not take reasonable steps to ensure that the money was held safely and could be recovered and returned to the client. By so doing, he failed to provide a competent standard of service to his client, and/or he failed to take reasonable steps to manage his practice and/or he failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the third-party payment service was consistent with his duty to act competently and in his client’s best interests.

Jonathan Edwards, a practising barrister, on or around dates between January 2021 and June 2021, arranged for a third-party provider to hold his lay client’s money and did not take reasonable steps to ensure that the money was held safely and could be recovered and returned to the client. By so doing, he behaved in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession.

Jonathan Edwards, a practising barrister, behaved in a way likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession, and/or which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity when he failed to:

(a) comply with a court order made by Deputy District Judge Cleal in the County Court at Haverfordwest in claim number 265MC602 on 21 July 2022, which ordered him to pay to a former lay client £3,000 forthwith and £200 by 12 August 2022;

(b) make the payments required by a court order made by Deputy District Judge Sherlock in the same claim on 3 February 2023, which suspended a warrant of control obtained by the judgment creditor provided he paid £500 per calendar month towards the judgment debt starting on 1 March 2023; and

(c) engage with the court bailiffs who visited his property and left notices for his attention in an attempt to enforce the warrant of control.

Mr Edwards did not pay the judgment debt until 13 November 2023.

Jonathan Edwards, a practising barrister, failed to act with integrity, in that, from 28 December 2023 to 3 September 2024, in his written responses to the Bar Standards Board’s investigation of an allegation that he had committed professional misconduct by failing to pay a judgment debt, he failed to provide a complete and accurate explanation to the Bar Standards Board of the circumstances behind his delayed payment, instead, choosing to provide piecemeal information and an evolving defence to the allegations against him.

Jonathan Edwards, a practising barrister, failed to be open and co-operative with his Regulator in that, from 28 December 2023 to 3 September 2024, in his written responses to the Bar Standards Board’s investigation of an allegation that he committed professional misconduct by failing to pay a judgment debt, he failed to provide a complete and accurate explanation to the Bar Standards Board of the circumstances behind his delayed payment, instead, choosing to provide piecemeal information and an evolving defence to the allegations against him.