William John Clifford Ross-Jones

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

The Respondent, an associate solicitor at Kirwans, received cash payments on account of costs from several clients (CEE, KNG, RAE, EB Ltd) during 1994-1995 and failed to pay them into client account, retaining funds for his own benefit. The Tribunal, hearing the matter in his absence after refusing a further adjournment (no medical prognosis provided), found both allegations substantiated and expressly found dishonesty applying the Twinsectra test. Given a prior disciplinary history, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered him to pay costs subject to detailed assessment.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty in dealings with clients and employer
• Retained clients' cash funds for his own benefit across multiple clients during 1994-1995
• Previous disciplinary history including indefinite suspension imposed in 1991