Peter Maxwell Durham

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

Peter Maxwell Durham, admitted January 1993, established a sole practice within weeks of admission in breach of Rule 13 (which requires supervision of solicitors admitted less than three years). He handled substantial Legal Aid monies (£89,717 by August 1994) while failing to keep proper accounts, failing to deliver an accountant's report, failing to produce his books, providing a misleading explanation to the Bureau (claiming he only worked for friends/family from home), making unjustifiable Legal Aid claims (£2,150 repaid), and failing to reply to correspondence. The Tribunal found all seven allegations substantiated but expressly noted no fraud was alleged or found. It found a cavalier disregard for the rules and that he was not fit to be a solicitor. He was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £3,680.90, with the Order suspended pending appeal.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Complaints procedure and handling
• No conflict between current clients
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Set up in sole practice within days/weeks of admission as a solicitor
• Cavalier/reckless disregard for the rules of the profession
• Misled his own professional body
• No file records survived for a number of legally aided matters; unable to justify claims
• Green form claims where maximum sum routinely claimed; overpayments repaid to Legal Aid Board of £2,150
• Frustrated Law Society Monitoring Unit and Investigation Accountant inspections

Mitigating factors:

• No fraud alleged or found; not a deliberate attempt to obtain more money than entitled
• Eventually cooperated with the Investigation Accountant and produced financial records
• Delivered an accountant's report (albeit late) and remedied book-keeping failures
• Small number of financial transactions on client account
• Repaid sums to the Legal Aid Board where claims could not be proved
• Inexperience in practice management; work on complex Legal Aid cases
• Personal difficulties - recently married, financially destitute, disorientated by moving clients between firms
• Admitted most allegations and apologised