Lim Stephen

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

The respondent, a sole proprietor solicitor, was convicted on six charges of criminal breach of trust under s 409 Penal Code for misappropriating S$118,063.69 of client (Oki) funds, using the money for his firm's expenses instead of paying it over. He was sentenced to three years and six months' imprisonment, with 18 further charges taken into consideration. In show cause proceedings under ss 83 and 94A(1) Legal Profession Act, the High Court found he acted with dishonesty in breach of his client's trust. Finding no sufficient mitigating factors (his cooperation with police was inadequate) and that the misappropriation was systematic, the court ordered him struck off the roll.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Substantial amount misappropriated (S$118,063.69)
• Money misappropriated in a systematic fashion, not a one-off incident
• 18 further charges taken into consideration
• Breach of client's trust

Mitigating factors:

• Cooperation with police in investigation (found insufficient)