THE number of solicitors struck off for professional misconduct fell in the last year despite the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal noting that the cases it hears are becoming increasingly more complicated.
In the year to the end of October 2016, the tribunal heard a total of 30 cases against solicitors, down from 40 the previous year, with 22 (down from 25) resulting in a finding of misconduct. Of those, six were struck off the solicitors’ roll, down from eight the previous year.
Retired solicitor John Urquhart, who had not practised since 2006 but whose name remained on the roll, was one of those struck off. Having been convicted of two offences involving indecent images of children, Mr Urquhart was subsequently found guilty of misconduct by the tribunal.
In its annual report for the year, the tribunal said: “It is a basic and fundamental principle that a solicitor requires to be a person of integrity. If the public is to have trust in the profession then the profession must observe a high standard of conduct.”
It added: “This was very serious conduct, extremely damaging to the reputation of and public confidence in the profession.”
Similarly, William Meechan of Glasgow firm Campbell & Meechan was struck off after being found guilty of a list of failings that the tribunal said “significantly called into question his honesty and trustworthiness to the extent that it demonstrated that the respondent was not a fit and proper person to be a solicitor”.
In a much more high-profile case, towards the end of the 2015/16 year the tribunal also struck off Drummond Miller consultant Cameron Fyfe after finding him guilty of professional misconduct during his time as a partner at now-defunct firm Ross Harper.
Mr Fyfe appealed that decision and went on to bring a successful civil action for rape against footballers David Goodwillie and David Robertson on behalf of Denise Clair while waiting for his own case to be heard. He was able to do this because the strike-off decision was suspended pending his appeal hearing.
Just two weeks after Court of Session judge Lord Armstrong said he found the evidence for Ms Clair to be “cogent, persuasive and compelling”, Lady Dorrian dismissed Mr Fyfe’s challenge that his name should not be struck from the roll.
The tribunal, which is yet to publish its findings against Mr Fyfe, had sanctioned him because during his time as a partner at Ross Harper the firm had funded its activities with client money, something that is prohibited under professional rules. Ross Harper ceased trading in 2012 after the Law Society of Scotland, which discovered the accounting irregularities during a routine inspection, had a judicial factor appointed to the firm.
In her judgment Lady Dorrian said that it was the court’s opinion that removal from the roll was an “appropriate sanction” and not one it “could describe as inappropriate or disproportionate”.
Five other former Ross Harper partners – Alan Susskind, Alan Miller, Joseph Mullen, James Price and Paul McHolland – have all also appeared before the tribunal but the outcome of their cases has not yet been made public.
In addition to striking solicitors from the roll, the tribunal can also publicly censure, suspend and fine those it finds guilty of misconduct. During the year to the end of October six solicitors were censured; two were censured and ordered to pay compensation; two were censured and fined; four were suspended; one was suspended and asked to pay compensation; one was censured, had their practice restricted and asked to pay compensation; and one was restricted and censured.
The reasons for the actions varied from failing to respond to statutory notices from the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and Law Society, failing to pay professional fees and having client money paid into a personal bank account.
Despite fewer cases coming before the tribunal than in the previous year, the number of days on which matters were heard increased from 41 to 45. Chairman Nicholas Whyte said this was because “complaints being dealt with by the tribunal are becoming more complicated and often involve one or more secondary complainers who wish to make a claim for compensation”.
Costs were also up year on year, from £176,110 to £243,594, which equates to a rise from £13.10 to £18.12 for every solicitor with a practising certificate.
At nine, the highest number of misconduct cases occurred in Strathclyde and Ayrshire, with seven in Glasgow and four in Tayside, Central and Fife.
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