Brian Milner-Lunt

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

Brian Milner-Lunt, a recognised sole practitioner, was found to have grossly overcharged the W Estate (for which he was sole Executor) by raising 45 invoices totalling around £132,666 when a reasonable fee was no more than £15,630.44. The Tribunal found all seven allegations proved beyond reasonable doubt, including dishonesty in respect of allegations 1.1 (overcharging) and 1.3 (improper transfers from Business Bonus Account to office account). Dishonesty was not found for allegation 1.2 (transfer to the Business Bonus Account), as the Tribunal accepted he genuinely but mistakenly believed it was a client account. He also failed to comply with a High Court Order, failed to cooperate with the SRA and Legal Ombudsman, and failed to reconcile the client account for around two years. Given the proven dishonesty and absence of exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £30,950.50. His subsequent appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal were dismissed/refused.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Cooperate openly with regulators

Aggravating factors:

• Proven dishonesty
• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated over more than 3 years
• Motivated by personal financial gain
• Abuse of position of trust as sole Executor
• Took advantage of elderly dying client
• Significant harm to beneficiaries (no interim payments made in nearly 4 years)
• Harm to reputation of profession
• Very little insight demonstrated

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished record
• Cooperated with the Applicant following referral to Tribunal
• Personal circumstances including ill health, bankruptcy and family difficulties