A D Cockburn

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

Alan Douglas Cockburn, a solicitor of about 30 years standing and partner at Megsons, acted in commercial property transactions for a fraudulent developer client Mr AM. He acted for seller, buyer and lender (Yorkshire Bank) without disclosing this in writing, failed to advise the bank of material facts including deferred payment and misuse of mortgage advances, signed inaccurate unqualified Certificates of Title, and allowed the purchaser client's interests to prevail over duties to the lender, causing significant unrecovered losses. He admitted allegations 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 (1.2 withdrawn). No dishonesty was alleged or found, but the Tribunal found the misconduct so serious that only strike-off was appropriate. He was struck off and ordered to pay £30,000 costs. His appeal to the High Court was later withdrawn.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• No taking unfair advantage
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Disclose material information to client

Aggravating factors:

• Previous disciplinary finding in 2009 (also involving the same client Mr AM), including breach of undertakings
• Significant unrecovered losses to lender client, potentially falling on the Compensation Fund
• Cavalier approach to professional obligations; abrogation of duties owed to lender client
• Involvement in facilitating undisclosed back-to-back transactions (email of 14 March 2007)
• Lack of insight; blamed the Land Registry for errors
• Senior solicitor of some 30 years standing in property work
• Admissions made only on the day of hearing; no statement filed despite directions