Moray Charles Livingstone MacPherson

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

Moray Charles MacPherson, a former equity partner at Osborne Clarke, admitted all allegations of professional misconduct arising from his dealings on behalf of client LP/Mr M. He repeatedly gave and breached solicitors' undertakings (to CI, TL, B LLP and M), in some cases requiring the firm to pay large sums (£1M, £277,525, £1.6M) from its office account. He also committed multiple Solicitors Accounts Rules breaches, including using A Ltd's £825,000 without consent, improper client-to-client transfers, and failing to maintain accounting records. He sought to conceal matters from his partners. The SRA expressly stated there was no allegation of dishonesty; the Tribunal found he lacked integrity. He had no prior appearances, received no personal benefit, and is being pursued for £3.2M by the firm's insurers. The Tribunal made a prohibition order against restoration to the Roll and ordered costs of £16,000.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Honour professional undertakings
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Serial giving and breaking of undertakings, given when he could not be certain they could be complied with
• Indiscriminate use of funds held to another client's order
• Deliberate attempts to conceal matters from partners even after some came to light