David Chalcraft
Introduction
David James Chalcraft was a senior English solicitor who qualified in 1985 and became a partner at Alexander & Partners, a London law firm, where he also served as the firm’s Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration (COFA) — the officer responsible for a firm’s compliance with its financial and management obligations. In September 2025, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal approved an agreed outcome striking him off the Roll after he admitted a decade-long pattern of dishonesty: concealing from a client that their case had been struck out, misleading the client and others, and mishandling client money. His case was determined on the papers at a hearing on 3 September 2025, and judgment was issued on 22 September 2025.
Background Information
Chalcraft built a career in the law that ran from his qualification in 1985 to his position as a partner at Alexander & Partners. Alongside his client work, he held the firm’s compliance post as Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration, a role that placed him in charge of the firm’s adherence to the SRA Accounts Rules — the framework he was later found to have breached. The misconduct documented by the tribunal began in December 2012 and continued into the 2020s, spanning his entire period as COFA and involving not one but several distinct threads of wrongdoing against clients and against the rules governing client money.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings described here are a matter of tribunal record: Chalcraft admitted the allegations, acknowledging dishonesty in his written admissions, and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal approved an agreed outcome striking him off the Roll. These are regulatory findings, not criminal convictions: he was never criminally charged.
The earliest thread began in December 2012, when Chalcraft failed to comply with a court order, causing Client A’s case to be struck out. He then concealed that fact from the client for more than ten years, misleading the client and others until January 2023 — a concealment that spanned his time as the firm’s compliance officer.
In a separate matter in July 2017, Chalcraft settled a clinical negligence claim for Client B without obtaining instructions to do so, and later misled the client about what had occurred.
A third thread ran from 2019 to 2022, when Chalcraft caused or allowed the firm to retain client monies without justification and to use its client account as a banking facility — a practice prohibited under the SRA Accounts Rules. He also failed to obtain the accountant’s reports required for the firm’s client account.
In written admissions, Chalcraft acknowledged dishonesty in his conduct before 25 November 2019 and admitted all of the allegations. The matter was resolved by an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, with both parties jointly submitting the proposed sanction to the tribunal.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal determined that the only proportionate penalty was striking off. It described his behaviour as “a sustained course of dishonest conduct over an extended period”, found that his actions “caused significant harm to clients and to the reputation of the profession”, and held that the seriousness of the misconduct left “no alternative sanction short” of removing him from the Roll. The sanction was approved as an agreed outcome — a joint submission by Chalcraft’s side and the SRA — rather than the product of a contested hearing, since the case was determined on the papers. The tribunal’s judgment was issued on 22 September 2025.
Current Status
David Chalcraft is struck off the Roll of solicitors and can no longer practise as a solicitor in England and Wales. The findings against him are regulatory findings of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, based on his own written admissions; they are not criminal convictions, and he was never criminally charged. The strike-off followed a decade in which, by his own admission, his conduct was dishonest.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The strike-off ends a legal career that began in 1985 and culminated in a partnership and a compliance office post. A solicitor struck from the Roll cannot continue in practice, and the tribunal’s characterisation of his conduct as a sustained course of dishonesty — acknowledged in his own written admissions — forecloses the sort of contested defence that might have produced a lesser outcome. The client at the centre of the longest deception spent more than ten years unaware that their case had been struck out, while Chalcraft occupied the very role responsible for ensuring the firm obeyed the rules on client money. His case stands as an agreed-outcome removal at the tribunal’s most serious level of sanction.
Sources
- Solicitor News, “Solicitor David Chalcraft struck off”, 10 October 2025. source