Malcolm John Colin Mackillop

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

Malcolm Mackillop, a sole practitioner solicitor admitted in 1975, admitted two allegations of dishonesty. First, in December 2021 he misled Santander by falsely stating completion would take place on 15 December 2021 and altering the Certificate of Title date, when completion had already occurred on 15 October 2021, to conceal his failure to secure mortgage funds. Second, in April 2023 he provided inaccurate information on the Firm's PII proposal form by falsely denying the Firm was subject to an SRA investigation. The Tribunal approved an agreed outcome, finding the misconduct serious and dishonest with no exceptional circumstances, and struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £14,923.03.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty proved
• Deliberate and calculated or repeated misconduct
• Concealment of wrongdoing - failed to notify Client A or Santander that mortgage funds not secured prior to completion; failed to inform insurer of SRA investigation
• Two separate acts of dishonesty, not an isolated incident or momentary lapse
• Respondent knew or ought to have known conduct breached obligations to protect the public and profession's reputation
• Potential financial benefit from concealing SRA investigation on PII form

Mitigating factors:

• Unblemished career of 50 years of dedicated service (not agreed by SRA)
• Two isolated, unrelated incidents 16 months apart (not agreed)
• No benefit to the Respondent
• No financial or other harm to Client A or Santander
• No indication of current or ongoing risk to clients