Montague Frankel

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

Montague Frankel, a very experienced retired solicitor, admitted providing a banking facility through the Firm's client account for a client (Company A), with about £1,167,061.97 passing through between March 2004 and October 2019. He also admitted dishonestly creating a letter in January 2021 which he backdated to December 2014 and submitted to the SRA as if genuine, procuring the signature of his elderly, vulnerable client. The Tribunal, on an agreed outcome dealt with on the papers, found the dishonesty placed his conduct at the highest level and, absent exceptional circumstances, ordered him struck off the Roll and to pay costs of £15,000.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty admitted
• Misconduct was deliberate
• Banking facility continued over a considerable period (15+ years)
• Took advantage of a vulnerable elderly client to procure signature on false letter
• Very experienced solicitor
• Limited insight demonstrated
• Acting in personal interest to conceal other wrongdoing

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported by the Firm
• No complaint from any client
• No money-laundering concerns arose (single long-standing client)
• Aged 75 and retired from practice in 2019 with no intention to return
• No practising certificate held; reduced need for public protection
• Offered early on to be removed from the roll
• Apologised for misconduct
• Forensic investigation found no other misconduct