John Charles Arnold

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

Sole principal of Arnolds and Dukes Arnold abandoned his three offices in December 2004 without proper arrangements, failed to notify the Law Society of a Reading office and of the closures, and failed to respond to correspondence regarding a client complaint. The Tribunal found all allegations substantiated, expressly noting there appeared to be no dishonesty (he had 'given up the ghost'). The failures were regarded as extremely serious; to protect the public the Tribunal imposed indefinite suspension and ordered costs of £8,004.44.

Duties found breached:

• Disclose adverse law to the court
• Orderly wind-down and contingency cover
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Respondent uncooperative and took no part in proceedings
• Service of documents difficult; substituted service required
• Withheld DX post, requiring police involvement
• Staff left unpaid for December; inconvenience caused to clients, landlord, DX service and creditors