Robert Alan Cutty

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

The Respondent, admitted in 1974, was convicted on his own admission of four counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception and five counts of fraud by abuse of position, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The frauds were committed over about seven years, involving misuse of around £300,000 with a personal benefit of about £140,000, breaching his duties as a solicitor in a position of trust. The SRA withdrew the earlier Rule 5 Statement and proceeded on the Rule 7 Statement based on the convictions. The Tribunal found all allegations proved beyond reasonable doubt (and admitted), found dishonesty, and with no exceptional circumstances ordered the Respondent struck off and to pay costs of £23,000.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Offences committed over a period of about seven years
• Multiple frauds involving misuse of approximately £300,000 with personal benefit of about £140,000
• Breach of position of trust as a solicitor
• Caused loss and damaged reputation of firm and profession

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• Facilitated proper disposal of case by consenting to proceed on Rule 7 Statement
• Consented to a striking off order
• Had not practised since November 2009 and did not intend to practise again
• Admitted the allegations