Audrey Perella

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

Audrey Perella, a sole practitioner, was found guilty of professional misconduct for breaching Rule 4 of the Solicitors (Scotland) Accounts Rules 1997 and embezzling £25,546.74 of client funds. A Judicial Factor found poor, unwritten accounting records and a client account deficit. The Tribunal found she used client funds for personal and firm expenses while insolvent. The Tribunal expressly found her conduct dishonest/disgraceful and struck her name off the Roll, awarding expenses against her, with publicity deferred pending criminal proceedings.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Deficit of £25,546.74 on client account
• Repeated use of client funds to meet personal and firm expenses
• Failure to refund Legal Aid Board and misuse of divorce settlement funds
• Insolvency, surviving only through embezzlement
• Accounting records not written up for 18 months to 2 years; office abandoned

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent's ill health (noted)