Christopher William Hales

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

Christopher William Hales, a former partner at Grigor Hales, Solicitors in Edinburgh, was found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to 13 conveyancing transactions between April 2010 and July 2011. He repeatedly breached the CML Lenders' Handbook by failing to report to lenders material information including back to back transactions with substantial price uplifts, properties owned by sellers for less than six months, cashback arrangements (of £25,000-£28,000), and the fact that the balance of purchase prices was provided by a third party (Company 3) rather than the purchasers. He also breached his common law duties, the Standards of Conduct Practice Rules 2008, and Rule 6(1) of the Accounts Rules by intromitting with lender funds without authority. The Tribunal noted he must have been aware he might be facilitating mortgage fraud but made no express finding of dishonesty. Given the ongoing course of conduct, large number of transactions, and damage to the profession's reputation, the Tribunal struck his name from the Roll. He was found liable in expenses (excluding costs of preparing the voluminous bundle of productions), with publicity ordered.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Ongoing course of conduct over more than one year (April 2010 to July 2011)
• Large number of transactions involved (13)
• Conduct likely to seriously damage the reputation of the legal profession
• Respondent's knowledge of the central role of Mrs A and Company 3 which should have set alarm bells ringing
• Respondent must have been aware there was a possibility he was facilitating mortgage fraud and generated fees on that basis

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent had ceased practice
• Respondent cooperated by admitting the averments of fact, duty and misconduct