Andrew John Tempest

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

Sole practitioner/associate solicitor Andrew John Tempest was found guilty of conduct unbefitting a solicitor for giving false and misleading information to client PW about the progress of her divorce and transfer of the matrimonial home, failing to inform client AR that her conveyancing completion had not occurred, and failing to reply to OSS correspondence. The Tribunal expressly found his conduct towards PW to have been dishonest. Given a prior 1997 disciplinary appearance and the need to protect the public, he was struck off the Roll, ordered to pay costs of £2,937.50, and the £2,500 OSS compensation direction was made enforceable as a High Court order.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Disclose material information to client
• Handle inadvertently received material

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonest course of conduct towards client PW causing great distress
• Previous appearance before the Tribunal in 1997 for similar conduct (delay and failure to reply to correspondence) with a warning that future similar allegations would not be dealt with leniently
• Failure to pay ordered compensation to PW
• Damage to reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

• Did not intend to defend proceedings and admitted misleading PW
• Apologised to PW in person and to the Tribunal
• Financial difficulties (consulting insolvency practitioner/considering bankruptcy)
• Left the profession voluntarily and stated no intention to practise again