Vishal Patel

Introduction

Vishal Patel is a British solicitor who was struck off the roll of solicitors by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in December 2025 after admitting a series of dishonesty allegations arising from falsified job applications. Patel, who was admitted as a solicitor in September 2020, worked as an in-house legal counsel at Aviva while inflating his qualifications on CVs sent to prospective employers in private practice, and later gave further misleading accounts to his employer and to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) as the falsehoods began to surface. He admitted all of the allegations against him, and the tribunal concluded that striking him off was the only proportionate sanction.

Background Information

Patel qualified in September 2020 and had around two years’ post-qualification experience when the misconduct took place, working as an in-house lawyer at Aviva — identified as Aviva Insurance by Solicitor News and RollOnFriday, and as Aviva Investors by Lawyers Weekly.

In 2022 he began exploring a move into private practice. In August 2022, he submitted a CV to the recruitment agency Robert Walters for a funds associate role at the international firm Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP, knowing that it would be forwarded to the firm.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings described here are a matter of tribunal record. Patel admitted all of the allegations before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which found that his conduct involved dishonesty and a lack of integrity and struck him off the roll. These are regulatory findings made in professional disciplinary proceedings, not criminal convictions: Patel was never criminally charged, and a striking-off order is not a criminal record.

The CV Patel sent in August 2022 contained several fabrications. It claimed a first-class law degree from Aston University, when he had in fact received a 2:2 from Birmingham City University, and stated that he achieved a “very competent” grade in the Bar Professional Training Course, when the tribunal heard he had been awarded only “competent”. It also listed an LLM at Nottingham University and misstated where and when he studied, along with aspects of his work experience. According to RollOnFriday, the CV claimed he had attended Leicester Grammar School when he had actually attended Crown Hills college, and Lawyers Weekly reported that he falsely claimed to hold a practising certificate.

Squire Patton Boggs interviewed Patel and offered him the role, subject to pre-employment screening. Checks by Vero, a screening business, alerted the firm to discrepancies between his CV and his questionnaire, and the firm’s head of HR held a meeting at which she questioned him about the inaccuracies. Patel gave unsatisfactory responses but admitted that he had “created a persona that he thought was required for a role in private practice”. The firm rescinded the offer, and in November 2022 a Squire Patton Boggs partner reported him to the SRA for providing “false and misleading information” in his CV.

In February 2023, Patel disclosed the SRA investigation to Aviva, which opened its own inquiry and asked him for the CV he had sent the recruiter, a “correct” CV, and a summary of the discrepancies between them. RollOnFriday reported that the “correct” CV was still inaccurate and that he had not been honest about the inaccuracies; the tribunal heard that the summary of discrepancies “did not highlight the full extent of the differences”. Solicitor News reported that the further CV material and discrepancy summary Patel provided to Aviva Investors that month themselves contained false or misleading information.

In March 2023, Patel made a verbal statement to his employer claiming that the two Leicester schools had merged and were essentially the same school — an explanation Aviva rejected, noting that they were “very separate and a Google search shows this”, and which the tribunal found to be untrue and misleading. In April 2023, Aviva dismissed him for “gross misconduct”, with Lawyers Weekly reporting that the company described it in those terms.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The SRA brought the matter before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which approved an Agreed Outcome, with the matter determined on the papers at a hearing on 20 November 2025 and a final order dated 5 December 2025. The tribunal found that the misconduct breached Principles 2, 4 and 5 of the SRA Principles 2019 and paragraph 1.4 of the Code of Conduct for Solicitors, and noted that Patel had “admitted dishonesty and acting without integrity”. Lawyers Weekly reported that the tribunal described his behaviour as involving “repeated” and “deliberate” dishonesty on multiple occasions over a six-month period, and Solicitor News reported it as “deliberate, repeated, and motivated by a desire to secure employment”, with conduct of the “utmost seriousness” that could “directly harm the reputation of the legal profession”. Although it acknowledged his admissions and cooperation with the regulator, it found no exceptional circumstances capable of justifying a lesser sanction, observing that a solicitor must be capable of being “trusted to the ends of the earth”. Patel was struck off the roll and ordered to pay £5,313 in costs.

The case was reported in February 2026 by Non-Billable, RollOnFriday, Solicitor News, and Lawyers Weekly, and drew reader comment on RollOnFriday’s comments section.

Current Status

Patel remains struck off the roll of solicitors following the final order dated 5 December 2025 and can no longer practise as a solicitor. He was also ordered to pay £5,313 in costs. The matter was resolved through regulatory proceedings, and no criminal charge arising from the false CVs has been reported; his dismissal by Aviva in April 2023 stands.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The falsified applications cost Patel the Squire Patton Boggs role he had already been offered, then his in-house position at Aviva, and finally his place on the roll of solicitors. Within roughly eight months of the first false CV, he went from an employed solicitor with a pending offer at an international firm to a dismissed employee under SRA investigation, and the striking-off order of December 2025 removed him from the roll. The findings of “repeated” and “deliberate” dishonesty over a six-month period that affected several parties now form the public record of his professional conduct.

Sources

Solicitor News, “Solicitor struck off for dishonesty in job applications and employer dealings”, February 10, 2026. source
RollOnFriday, “Lawyer applying to Squire Patton Boggs struck off for CV lies”, February 6, 2026. source
Non-Billable, “Lawyer struck off after lying on CV for Squire Patton Boggs role”, February 3, 2026. source
Lawyers Weekly, “Lawyer struck off for lying on CV to BigLaw firm”, February 13, 2026. source