Humphrey Lee Mcpherson

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

Attorney Humphrey McPherson was retained in 1997 to administer the estate of the complainant's late husband. He failed to complete nearly all his instructions, made errors delaying probate, charged unreasonable fees (a taxation found he was owed only $44,750 against claims exceeding $4.7M), failed to account for or pay over estate monies (holding $1,820,000), disobeyed instructions, and later acted for a third party (Ms. Francis) against his former client's interests, revealing and using her confidences. The panel found professional misconduct proved beyond reasonable doubt on ten Canons. No express finding of dishonesty was made. The attorney declined to give evidence and repeatedly failed to attend the mitigation hearings. He was struck off the Roll, ordered to pay the estate $1,820,000 with 6% interest from February 2004, and to pay costs of $750,000.}}</}}undefined 説 the JSON got mangled at the end. Let me restate cleanly. {

Duties found breached:

• Overriding duty to the court
• No improper communication with the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
• No own-interest conflict
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Breaches of ten separate Canons together forming serious professional misconduct
• Failed to complete virtually all instructions given over many years
• Charged excessive fees (claimed over $4.7M when taxation found only $44,750 owed)
• Acted against his own former client in a conflicting civil suit and used confidential information
• Never accounted for or paid over estate monies held