Douglas Lamond

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

The Respondent, a retired solicitor, repeatedly failed to respond to correspondence and statutory notices (s48 and s15 Notices) from the Law Society of Scotland in connection with a complaint investigation, thereby impeding the Council's statutory duty to investigate. The Tribunal proceeded in his absence on the basis of affidavit evidence and found him guilty of professional misconduct for breaching Rules B1.9.1 and B1.16. The Tribunal expressly rejected the Fiscal's submission of lack of integrity (no breach of Rule B1.2) and made no finding of dishonesty. It censured him, fined him £750, and found him liable for expenses.

Duties found breached:

• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Lack of engagement with the Tribunal
• Lack of insight and remorse
• Course of conduct of repeated failure to cooperate with the regulator
• Impact on the reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

• No previous conduct findings against the Respondent
• Aged 72 and already retired from practice
• Conduct at the lower end of the scale of misconduct