Law Society-v-Elizabeth Anne Dingwall
Interlocutor
Edinburgh 3 October 2013. The Tribunal having considered the Complaint dated 28 June 2013 at the instance of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland, on behalf of the Secondary Complainer against Elizabeth Anne Dingwall, Solicitor, Hughes Dowdall, Sterling House, 20 Renfield Street, Glasgow; Find the Respondent guilty of Professional Misconduct in respect of her between 22 September 2011 and 19 November 2011, while acting under a continuing welfare power of attorney on 16 occasions making cash withdrawals amounting to a total of £8350 from two back accounts held on behalf of her client using Automated Telling Machines and at a branch office; her repeatedly failing to make and keep contemporaneous records of the transactions in the firms accounting records; her failure to credit the cash withdrawals fully and promptly in the firms client account; and her only making four cash deposits in the firms client account leaving a shortfall that she could not account for; Censure the Respondent and Direct under Section 53(5) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 that for a period of three years any Practising Certificate held or issued to the Respondent shall be subject to such restriction as will limit her to acting as a qualified assistant to such employer as may be approved by the Council or the Practising Certificate Sub Committee of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland; Find the Respondent liable in the expenses of the Complainers and of the Tribunal including expenses of the Clerk, chargeable on a time and line basis as the same may be taxed by the Auditor of the Court of Session on an agent and client, client paying basis in terms of Chapter Three of the last published Law Society’s Table of Fees for general business with a unit rate of £14.00; and Direct that publicity will be given to this decision and that this publicity should include the name of the Respondent.
Alan McDonald
Vice Chairman