Michael Charles Edmund Pattison

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Sole practitioner solicitor found guilty of conduct unbefitting for failing to comply promptly with an OSS direction to pay client Mrs H £3,447.01 and for failing to respond promptly to OSS correspondence regarding Mrs F's complaint. The Tribunal imposed a conditional/'unless' order: a fine of £3,500 if he complied with the direction by 31 January 2003, otherwise indefinite suspension from 1 February 2003, plus costs of £924.95 in any event. No dishonesty was found.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Proper termination and return of instructions

Aggravating factors:

• Cavalier attitude to correspondence from his regulatory body and to the OSS direction
• Compensation to Mrs H remained unpaid since February 2002
• No real explanation for failure to pay the compensation order
• Delay of some 13 months responding to OSS regarding Mrs H; OSS had to use statutory powers twice to obtain files

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted the facts and allegations
• Apologised profoundly
• Was experiencing personal difficulties
• Offered to make payment by 31 January 2003
• Caring for his children half of the time