Alan John Baillie (1)

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

Alan John Baillie, a Dundee solicitor, was found guilty of professional misconduct for failing to communicate effectively with a secondary complainer (Lorraine Ludman), acting in a conflict of interest between 2009 and 2016 while representing both her and Andrew McIlvride, failing to advise her to seek separate legal advice, and inappropriately using £1,380 of her client funds to pay another client's fees without consent. The revised complaint contained no allegations of dishonesty or lack of integrity. Given an analogous previous 2014 finding, his lack of insight, and long-running conduct, the Tribunal struck his name off the Roll. At a separate compensation hearing, the Tribunal awarded the Secondary Complainer £4,000 for inconvenience and distress (declining a financial loss claim as the funds had been repaid). Respondent was found liable for expenses of the Complainers and Tribunal (taxed).

Duties found breached:

• Disclose adverse law to the court
• No improper communication with the court
• No taking unfair advantage
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Comply with rules of foreign jurisdictions

Aggravating factors:

• Analogous previous finding of professional misconduct in 2014 (censured and fined £10,000) covering the same time period
• Lack of insight - maintained at proof he did not act for the Secondary Complainer despite evidence
• Ongoing course of conduct persisting over a long period
• Conduct likely to seriously damage reputation of the legal profession

Mitigating factors:

• Expressed remorse through representative
• Cooperated with the Fiscal and Tribunal
• Significant/precarious health challenges
• Invited the Tribunal to strike him off; had ceased practising