David Roy Larkin

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

Sole practitioner David Roy Larkin was found guilty of conduct unbefitting a solicitor. He received a tranche of client money (£170,202.45 for 15 client matters) transferred from another firm (Masil Rumbold) and sought to use it for his own purposes, camouflaging his actions by drawing spurious bills (in the Ealing, S deceased and J deceased matters) and transferring money from client to office account ostensibly to settle costs. An inspection found a cash shortage of £53,306.01, including an apparent misuse of clients' funds of £49,000. The Tribunal expressly found dishonesty in connection with allegations (ii), (iii) and (v). He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £16,244.02. (A separate June 2001 hearing on other matters had earlier resulted in a £5,000 fine.)

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports

Aggravating factors:

• Misappropriation of client funds for own benefit
• Drawing spurious/dummy bills to camouflage transfers
• Failure to exercise proper stewardship over clients' money
• Disgraceful failure to answer correspondence from his professional body (June 2001 findings)

Mitigating factors:

• Made full restitution to Ealing (£49,097.56)
• Replaced smaller shortfall promptly
• Practice had ceased to be viable; personal and financial difficulties
• Long career assisting clients and providing employment