Adrian Robert Berkeley

Introduction

Adrian Robert Berkeley is a British solicitor, admitted in October 1993, who was struck off the roll in June 2026 after a disciplinary tribunal found he had sent a misleading email about a vulnerable woman and had separately stalked another woman. Berkeley had not held a practising certificate since 2015, but he remained the co-founder of LawFriend, a Manchester-based company which offers legal services; the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) was told LawFriend is a non-authorised entity. He did not appear before the tribunal and was not represented.

Background Information

Berkeley was admitted as a solicitor in October 1993 and had not held a practising certificate since 2015. He nonetheless stayed connected to the legal services market as the co-founder of LawFriend, a Manchester-based company which offers legal services. When the case reached the SDT, the tribunal was told that LawFriend is a non-authorised entity, meaning it was not a firm authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Berkeley’s stalking conviction (Manchester magistrates’ court, June 2024) is a matter of court record. The email findings below are adjudicated regulatory findings made by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which decided the case in his absence after he did not appear and was not represented.

Berkeley was found to have sent an email to the sons of a woman anonymised in the proceedings as “Miss G”, whom he had met during a speed dating event. The email made a series of false statements: that he had been instructed by their mother; that he was instructed to act as her next of kin; that he had instructions to bring a claim for false imprisonment and assault; that her sons had been removed as her next of kin; that his charging rate was £500 per hour; and that “Ms G” intended to transfer her property to him.

Susannah Stevens, for the SRA, told the tribunal that Berkeley’s conduct “is in relation to two women and their families”, and that Miss G “was at the time an extremely vulnerable woman” who “suffers from mental health issues” and whose vulnerability “was at a level that at the material time she had actually been sectioned under the Mental Health Act”. The tribunal heard that Miss G’s sons had no knowledge of Berkeley until he contacted them; after receiving the email, one of the sons reported him to the SRA.

Berkeley was also found to have stalked a second woman, referred to as “Ms A”, between June 2023 and November 2023. The tribunal heard he received a police warning not to contact her and was arrested as a result of his conduct toward her, but “continued his conduct towards her”. He denied stalking but was convicted following a trial at which Ms A gave evidence; in June 2024, Manchester magistrates’ court convicted him of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, and he was sentenced to 26 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Material Berkeley provided to the SRA included a thread of WhatsApp messages in which he mentioned that he had “been arrested and bailed in relation to a criminal offence”, Stevens said. Correspondence from Berkeley to the SRA was read out at the hearing, in which he admitted writing the letter to Miss G’s sons “to shake the boys into showing if they were trying to take her money or if they cared”. He said he was “not a mental health solicitor” and was “only ever required to make a shot across the bow to flush out any of the activities of her sons against her interest”.

Stevens told the tribunal that Berkeley’s charging rate “was not £500 an hour” and that, when he claimed it was, “that was plainly dishonest”. She added: “Violence against women cannot be tolerated in today’s day and age by any professional.”

Tribunal chair Mark Millin said both allegations were found proved and that Berkeley was found to have lacked integrity and to have acted dishonestly. “The respondent acted in a manner which failed to uphold the public trust and confidence in the solicitor’s profession,” he said.

Current Status

Berkeley has been struck off the roll and was ordered to pay £22,608 costs, as reported by the Law Gazette in June 2026. The SDT’s findings of dishonesty and lack of integrity, and his 2024 stalking conviction, both stand on the record.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Being struck off removes Berkeley from the roll of solicitors, ending his ability to practise in a profession he had been part of since his admission in October 1993 — although he had not held a practising certificate since 2015. The tribunal’s findings — that he lacked integrity and that his conduct was dishonest — were made in a case brought over conduct “in relation to two women and their families”. The criminal conviction for stalking involving serious alarm or distress, with its 26-week suspended sentence, remains alongside the regulatory sanction, as does his recorded role as co-founder of LawFriend, the non-authorised Manchester legal services company.

Sources

• Law Gazette, “Non-practising solicitor struck off over stalking conviction and misleading email,” Jun 19, 2026 — visible source