Jeremy Paul Andrew Reichelt

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

Sole practitioner Jeremy Paul Andrew Reichelt closed his practice in January 1995 and failed to deliver required half-yearly Accountant's Reports and a 'cease to hold' report despite a condition on his practising certificate and a direction from the Law Society's Conduct Committee. He did not appear at the hearing (he was crewing a yacht abroad). The Tribunal found the allegation of conduct unbefitting a solicitor substantiated, expressly noting he did not appear to have acted dishonestly and that there was no financial irregularity. Given his abandonment of responsibility and a prior 1994 disciplinary finding, the Tribunal suspended him indefinitely and ordered costs of £917.34.

Duties found breached:

• Proper termination and return of instructions
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports

Aggravating factors:

• Previous disciplinary finding in May 1994 for failing to comply with a Direction and failing to reply to the Bureau, fined £1,000
• Appeared to have abandoned all responsibility
• Failure to comply persisted despite requests and a formal direction

Mitigating factors:

• No suggestion of financial irregularity or shortfall on client account
• Failure was regulatory non-compliance only
• Not found to have acted dishonestly