William Dermot Noel McKinney-Sheehan

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

Sole practitioner McKinney-Sheehan admitted allegations of drawing money improperly from client account, utilising and misappropriating clients' funds. A Law Society inspection found a client account shortfall of £11,792.55 arising from improper transfers to office account for his own benefit, including a duplicated transfer over-charging the N estate by £11,560, plus further improper transfers and raising bills not delivered to clients to clear residual balances. The Tribunal found the allegations substantiated, rejected his claim of mere error and dissatisfaction with his attitude, and struck him off the Roll with costs to be taxed. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• No improper solicitation or touting

Aggravating factors:

• Shortfall in client funds of £11,792.55 at 31 January 1995
• Improper transfers from client to office account for his own use and benefit
• Duplicated transfer causing over-transfer of £11,560 which remained for over 17 months
• Bills raised but not delivered to clients to 'bill off surpluses'
• Coincidence in billing off of £231.63 in M matter too strong to be error
• Unattractive argument implicating staff
• Failed to clarify matters despite ample time; unprofessional attitude before and after inspection

Mitigating factors:

• Repaid the N estate with interest before end of February
• Sent cheques to all those owed monies within a week of intervention
• Financial pressures and flawed accounting procedures
• Lost practice and livelihood; working outside the law at low salary