John Barrie Wilson

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

John Barrie Wilson faced five allegations. The Tribunal found allegation 1.1 (lack of integrity in preferring NatWest over HMRC) NOT proved, being unable to be sure it demonstrated lack of integrity as he may have been firefighting to keep his businesses afloat. Allegations 1.2 (diminishing public trust), 1.3 (seven-year director disqualification, breach of Principle 6), 1.4 (paying a client's £800 compensation from their own client money in breach of SAR 1998 Rule 22(1)) and 1.5 (holding non-client charity dinner monies in client account in breach of SAR 2011 Rule 14.2) were all proved beyond reasonable doubt. No finding of dishonesty was made; the disqualification judge had expressly stated Wilson was not dishonest and did not lack probity. The Respondent did not attend; the Tribunal proceeded in his absence. Given the seriousness, lack of insight, no mitigating factors, and a prior fine, the Tribunal imposed an indefinite suspension and ordered costs of £28,000.

Duties found breached:

• Account for interest on client money
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct under allegation 1.2 was deliberate, calculated and repeated over a period of time
• Ignored professional insolvency/CVA advice and tried to trade out of trouble
• One previous disciplinary finding (fined £25,000 in 2010), including failing to act in clients' best interests
• Misconduct occurred more or less contemporaneously with earlier professional misconduct proceedings against him
• Considerable loss to the public purse through unpaid tax, NI and VAT
• High culpability as a very experienced solicitor with direct control