Stephen McGuire (1)

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

Stephen McGuire, a retired Scottish solicitor, admitted professional misconduct in respect of three secondary complainers. He failed to respond to Ms A's queries and to communicate timeously with the SLCC, taking around 13 months to provide his file. In Ms B's case he took seven months and a threat of Court of Session proceedings to deliver the file. In Ms C's case he failed to progress a simple executry (worth under £100,000) over five years, failing to act in her best interests and within a reasonable time. The Tribunal found his conduct a serious and reprehensible departure from competent standards under Sharp. No dishonesty or lack of integrity was found. He was censured, fined £1,500, and his practising certificate restricted to acting as a qualified assistant for an aggregate five years to protect the public; suspension or strike off were considered excessive. He was found liable in expenses.

Duties found breached:

• Act in the client's best interests
• Act only on proper, lawful instructions
• Cooperate openly with regulators
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Failures in relation to three separate cases
• Failures persisted for a very long time
• Previous finding of professional misconduct in 2021 (censured and fined £1,000 for accounts rules and AML failures)
• SLCC required to threaten Court of Session proceedings to recover files
• Sought to and failed to complete instructions following initial complaint to SLCC

Mitigating factors:

• Significant ill health at the time of misconduct and at present
• Contrite and attended in person admitting professional misconduct
• No finding of dishonesty or lack of integrity
• Paid compensation awarded by SLCC for service elements
• Had retired and no longer held a practising certificate; practice transferred to another firm without prejudice to other clients
• Difficulties caused by his partner being struck off in 2019
• Some periods fell within coronavirus lockdowns; had to furlough staff
• No fees charged to Ms A or her family