Leslie Roy Campbell

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

Complainant, rendered paraplegic in a 2000 motor vehicle accident, retained the Attorney in 2002 to recover damages. An interim order of $3,000,000 was made against Otis Graham, and Dyoll issued a release and discharge for that sum. Dyoll paid $2,336,563.02 to the Attorney, who retained $656,538.90 in fees and paid $1,680,024.12 to the Complainant. Dyoll went into liquidation and no further sums were recovered. The Attorney failed to explain to the Complainant, orally or in writing, the status of his case and implications of Dyoll's insolvency. The Panel found the Attorney guilty of professional misconduct under Canon IV(r) for failing to provide information with due expedition. No dishonesty was found. The Attorney was reprimanded, fined $100,000 to the Complainant, and ordered to pay costs of $20,000 to the Complainant and $15,000 to the General Legal Council.

Duties found breached:

• Full disclosure on ex parte applications

Aggravating factors:

• Attorney knew or ought to have known the Complainant was not fully literate and severely injured (paraplegic), increasing his need for clear communication

Mitigating factors:

• Attorney had proceeded expeditiously and competently with filing the claim and correspondence with Dyoll
• Attorney provided a statement of account to the Complainant
• Complainant expressed no dissatisfaction with funds received and expressly denied any dishonesty by the Attorney

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=35000"]