Alexander Gilmour Malcolm

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

The Respondent acted for Mr & Mrs A in a road traffic accident reparation claim for 12½ years across several firms, failing to competently progress the claim, failing to submit a proper Legal Aid application (and not advising clients of its refusal), failing to communicate with clients, and abandoning them without representation. The Tribunal unanimously found professional misconduct contrary to Articles 5 and 7 of the Code of Conduct 1989. By a 3-2 majority, the Tribunal found the Respondent not guilty of dishonestly intercepting a client's letter of complaint, as it could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt. Given two previous findings of misconduct and a persistent course of conduct, the Tribunal ordered his name struck off the Roll. No expenses due to or by either party.

Duties found breached:

• Avoid wasting the court's time
• No improper communication with the court
• No taking unfair advantage
• Keep client informed and respond promptly
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Two previous findings of misconduct with practising certificate restricted twice
• Persistent course of conduct over a period of years
• 12½ years acting with little progress
• Period of 31 months of complete inactivity
• Wilful and reckless disregard for clients
• Potential serious consequences for clients regarding Legal Aid and expenses exposure

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent was sequestrated until August 2007 and restricted until 2012
• Modest income doing casual work as taxi driver
• Some delay attributable to awaiting responses from insurance company