Daniel Anthony McGinn

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

Daniel Anthony McGinn, a sole practitioner, was instructed in a divorce and received £500 in fees but did no work, provided no fee note/invoice/receipt, failed to refund the fee despite promising to, and failed to advise the client he was ceasing to act before closing his practice. The Tribunal found him guilty of professional misconduct in cumulo and expressly found dishonesty (taking the money and doing nothing, and falsely claiming he had/would repay). Though dishonesty normally leads to strike-off, the Tribunal imposed an eight-year suspension given the single client, small sum and absence of a pattern of deceit. He was ordered to pay expenses and, at a later hearing, £1,000 compensation to the Secondary Complainer.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• Act in the client's best interests
• Act only on proper, lawful instructions
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to engage with the Law Society or the Tribunal
• Lack of any demonstration of remorse or insight
• Apparent deliberate decision to avoid communication and proceedings

Mitigating factors:

• Dishonest conduct related to a single case and client
• Relatively small sum of money involved
• No pattern of deceit or course of conduct
• Money obtained entirely properly before the failure to do work or refund
• Conduct occurred in context of solicitor closing his practice