Alexander John BAXTER

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

Mr Baxter, a solicitor admitted in 1981, misappropriated almost $6.7 million of client trust funds from 18 clients over nearly two years to fund a gambling problem. He self-reported, resigned, and cooperated fully. The Tribunal found his conduct constituted professional misconduct involving serious breaches of honesty and trust, and ordered his name be struck from the local roll and that he pay $2,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Enormous scale of defalcations (almost $6.7 million; over $5.4 million from one client)
• Over $3.5 million still outstanding
• Conduct occurred over nearly two years involving numerous compounding breaches
• Deliberate concealment by shuffling client funds

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported misconduct to partners
• Full cooperation with the Commissioner and investigation
• Immediate admission of all allegations
• No previous adverse disciplinary findings
• Surrendered practicing certificate and did not seek to review cancellation
• Some funds repaid