Decision record
Hopeton Karl Clarke
Allegation / charges
Struck off | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered October 26, 2019. || RESULT: Appeal dismissed | Court of Appeal decision delivered March 12, 2021. View PDF JUDGMENT OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE SANCTION COMPLAINT NO: 137/2017 BETWEEN ALLAN WOOD, Q.C. COMPLAINANT …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The respondent attorney-at-law Hopeton Karl Clarke was found guilty of serious professional misconduct involving multiple breaches of the Legal Profession (Accounts and Records) Regulations 1999, having filed no accountant's reports or declarations for 14 years and failing to pay practice fees for 5 years. Despite numerous adjournments to allow him to address the panel on sanctions, he repeatedly failed to appear and never remedied the breaches. The panel concluded he could not be represented to the public as a fit and proper person to practise law and ordered his name struck from the Roll of Attorneys pursuant to section 12(4) of the Legal Profession Act. No express finding of dishonesty was made.
Duties found breached:
- No conflict between current clients
- Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
- Pay instructed practitioners and agents
Aggravating factors:
- Breaches never addressed nor remedied despite ample time during the proceedings
- Repeated failure to appear before the panel on scheduled hearing dates
- Serious misconduct spanning many years