Peter Alan Cecil Gillis

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

Sole practitioner Peter Alan Cecil Gillis faced allegations of accounts breaches, deliberate improper use of clients' funds, and failure to pay indemnity contributions/premiums. Allegations (b)-(e) were not proceeded with; allegations (a), (f), (g) and (h) were admitted and found substantiated. An Investigating Accountant found the office account had a debit balance of £23,736.22 and that funds for professional disbursements (Counsel's fees, medical reports, experts' fees, Legal Aid refunds) had been retained in office account rather than paid out, with cheques drawn but not presented over many years. The respondent claimed cash flow difficulties following withdrawal of Legal Aid and said he had funded clients' claims himself, with no client suffering loss. The Tribunal, applying the test in Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan, found the respondent had been dishonest in retaining third-party funds in office account. Given his serious prior disciplinary history (struck off 1976, restored 1981, fined 1995, penalised 1999), the Tribunal ordered him struck off the Roll and to pay costs including the Investigation Accountant's costs fixed at £6,715.35.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• No improper use of client money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Professional indemnity insurance