Paul Douglas Hills

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

Paul Douglas Hills, a solicitor admitted in 1990, admitted retaining client monies (totalling £3,147.20) on up to six occasions and failing to pay them into the Firm's client account, and improperly administering oaths on probate applications he prepared while retaining oath fees. He admitted his conduct in relation to the monies was dishonest. The Tribunal approved an Agreed Outcome, finding serious dishonest conduct with no exceptional circumstances, and ordered him struck off the Roll and to pay £15,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest conduct over a period of five months
• Multiple occasions/several clients affected
• Clients were mostly elderly and vulnerable and trusted the Respondent
• Respondent benefitted financially and the Firm suffered financial loss
• Failed to open files for some clients causing inconvenience and distress

Mitigating factors:

• Stress, anxiety and depression prior to and during employment (not agreed by SRA, not amounting to exceptional circumstances)
• Claimed intention to repay monies and paid litigation solicitors a sum to reimburse the Firm
• No practise since July 2018