Paul Francis Brendan McMahon

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

McMahon, an assistant solicitor admitted in 1993, obtained a client account cheque (£2,552.16) purportedly for a client, Mr R Oliver, then executed a Power of Attorney falsely evidencing that he had changed his name to "Robert Oliver". He opened a building society account with the cheque and withdrew £300 before the society alerted its investigation department. He admitted wrongdoing to his employer's senior partner and to the Bureau. The Tribunal found a calculated course of dishonesty and ordered him struck off, plus fixed costs of £763.75. The firm recovered the money so there was no ultimate loss; the Tribunal had sympathy for his personal difficulties.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Elaborate, calculated scheme involving a falsified Power of Attorney to misappropriate client money

Mitigating factors:

• Difficult personal circumstances / stress causing uncharacteristic behaviour
• Admitted wrongdoing to employer and the Bureau
• Money recovered by employer; no ultimate loss