Decision record
William Herbert Black
Allegation / charges
Criminal Convictions
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Respondent, a retired solicitor admitted in 1981, was convicted on 7 November 2018 at Sussex (Eastern) Magistrates' Court of sexual assault contrary to s.3 Sexual Offences Act 2003, having attempted to kiss a 15-year-old girl in a public house. He received a Community Order, compensation, and a 5-year sex offenders register notification requirement. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers via an agreed outcome, found breaches of Principles 2 and 6. The victim's age was treated as a substantial aggravating factor. No express dishonesty finding was made (lack of integrity only). The Tribunal ordered that he be struck off the Roll and pay costs of £1,275.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Commission of a criminal offence (sexual assault)
- Victim was a 15-year-old girl and therefore vulnerable
- Sentence included a statutory 5-year sex offenders register notification requirement
Mitigating factors:
- Self-reported the conviction to the SRA
- Previously unblemished regulatory history
- Demonstrated insight and remorse/apology
- Entered an early guilty plea
- Co-operated with the SRA's investigation