Anthony Thomas Freer

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

Anthony Thomas Freer, admitted 1994 (practising certificate terminated June 2001), was found guilty of conduct unbefitting a solicitor for failing to deliver Accountant's Reports for the years ended 31 March 2001, 2002 and 2003, and for failing to respond to OSS correspondence. He had previously been before the Tribunal in February 2003 and fined £2,500 for similar matters, where he gave assurances to put matters right but did not file the outstanding Reports until the day of this hearing. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated (uncontested, with admissions by fax). Given his persistent failures in important regulatory matters and prior warning that leniency could not be expected, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,185. No express finding of dishonesty was made; the Respondent attributed his failures to inertia.

Duties found breached:

• Handle inadvertently received material
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports

Aggravating factors:

• Persistent and continuing breaches of important regulatory obligations
• Failed to honour assurance given to the Tribunal in 2003 to file outstanding Reports
• Had been warned by the previous Tribunal that leniency could not be expected if he remained in continuing breach
• Acted only at the eleventh hour, filing Reports on the day of the hearing
• Put forward no medical evidence or cogent explanation for his failures
• Previous appearance before Tribunal in February 2003 for similar conduct

Mitigating factors:

• Admitted all allegations and apologised to the Tribunal
• Breaches caused by inertia and inability to deal with matters rather than anything deliberate
• Eventually filed all outstanding Accountant's Reports (on the day of the hearing)
• Asked that admissions reduce costs