Sir Ian Seymour Collett

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

Sir Ian Seymour Collett, a partner at Birkett Westthorpe & Long in Ipswich and a Notary Public, failed to account to his partners for notarial fees received in 1992 and 1993 (receiving £2,065.30 and accounting for only £410 in 1992; receiving £3,366 and accounting for £258.80 in 1993). He also improperly charged a client account ("S Marine"), which held a credit balance arising from an exchange-rate overpayment, with fictitious notarial fees and travelling expenses, and used a £17.75 client-account balance for "FFF Ltd" to settle personal bills, with other improper payments made from that account (to a contractor who worked at his home and to P&O Ferries). The respondent admitted the facts but denied dishonesty, claiming the money was used to benefit the firm. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated and concluded his manipulation of small sums for his own use and lack of candour amounted to dishonesty. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,287.80.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Manipulation of small amounts of money unlikely to be missed by a solicitor, applied for his own use and benefit
• Lack of candour and frankness with partners
• Misuse of both partnership and client funds
• Suggested billing a client-account balance under a false description ('lets bill it as courier charge')

Mitigating factors:

• Sums of money involved were not great
• Respondent co-operated with the Solicitors Complaints Bureau
• Apologised and accepted he had made grave errors of judgement
• Personal hardship: loss of employment, sale of home, professional/financial/emotional difficulty