Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal

Joy Patricia Dunbar

A complaint was made by the Council of the Law Society of Scotland against Joy Patricia Dunbar, Solicitors Direct, Aberdeen. The Tribunal found the respondent guilty of professional misconduct in respect of her breach of rules 4 and 8 of the Solicitors (Scotland) Accounts etc Rules 2001.

The Tribunal censured the respondent.

The Tribunal noted that the respondent had been responsible for a number of breaches of rules 4 and 8 of the Accounts Rules, which are designed to protect clients’ funds whilst in the possession of solicitors. The Tribunal was of the view that the respondent’s failures as outlined above would be viewed by competent and reputable solicitors as serious and reprehensible and therefore were sufficient to meet the Sharp test. However, in considering sanction, the Tribunal noted the circumstances in which the respondent’s failures occurred. The Tribunal took into account that these failures subsisted for a short period of time and that there was no suggestion of dishonesty. The Tribunal took into account that the respondent had appeared before the Tribunal, had candidly admitted her failures and had shown a keenness to have the matter resolved from the earliest possible stage in the proceedings. The Tribunal considered that that in all the circumstances the respondent’s failures were towards the lower end of the scale of professional misconduct and that the appropriate sanction was a censure.