Kenneth John Baillie Stewart Macleod

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

Kenneth John Baillie Stewart MacLeod was found guilty of professional misconduct for acting in a conflict of interest situation, failing to disclose his own financial involvement and directorship in Company 1, and failing to advise his client (the Secondary Complainer) of Mr X's criminal/fraud history, the company's trading difficulties and its dissolution. The Tribunal made an express finding of dishonesty (applying Ivey), concluding his continuing failure to inform the Secondary Complainer over five years was a deliberate choice to deceive him about the safety of his investment. Given the dishonesty and lack of insight, the Tribunal ordered the Respondent be struck off the Roll. He was found liable for the expenses of the Complainers and the Tribunal (taxed, no fixed sum stated). At a later compensation hearing on the papers, the Tribunal ordained him to pay the Secondary Complainer £5,000 (the statutory maximum) with 8% interest, with no finding of expenses for that hearing.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper communication with the court
• Not misrepresent regulated status
• Prosecutorial duty of disclosure
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct was deliberate and dishonest, continuing over roughly five years
• Previous finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct relating to an analogous conflict of interest
• Conduct had potential to seriously damage the reputation of the profession
• No insight into his own conduct or its seriousness
• Repeatedly blamed others (Mr X, his bookkeeper, a political opponent, the Fiscal)
• No evidence of remorse
• Repeatedly promised but never paid compensation to the Secondary Complainer since 2016

Mitigating factors:

• Lengthy career with no previous appearances before the Tribunal
• Misconduct restricted to consequences flowing from a single conflict situation/single piece of work
• Stated intention to compensate the Secondary Complainer