Myles MacGregor Austin-Olsen

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

The Respondent, a solicitor practising as a consultant, made two improper payments totalling £13,000 from client account for his own purposes, borrowed money from a client without ensuring independent advice, obtained a £95,000 bridging loan from HSBC by deception, and breached an undertaking to the bank. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated, expressly finding the Respondent had behaved dishonestly in relation to client monies, and struck him off the Roll with costs of £1,232.03.

Duties found breached:

• No own-interest conflict
• No improper use of client money
• Honour professional undertakings

Aggravating factors:

• Previous appearance before the Tribunal in 1994 for breach of undertaking
• Misappropriation of client funds and misrepresentations to HSBC bank
• Borrowing from clients without ensuring independent legal advice, creating conflict of interest

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent indicated through solicitors he did not wish to defend the allegations
• Partners of the Firm made good the shortages and settled outstanding liabilities