Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal

A complaint was made by the Council of the Law Society of Scotland against Kevin Fredrick Macpherson, solicitor, Stornoway. The Tribunal found the respondent guilty of professional misconduct in respect that between March 2011 and August 2013 he engaged in an improper course of conduct towards a trainee solicitor and on 22 June 2012 engaged in an improper course of conduct in email correspondence with a female employee of another firm of solicitors.

The Tribunal ordered that the name of the respondent be struck off the Roll of Solicitors in Scotland.

The respondent engaged in a course of email correspondence with a female employee of another firm of solicitors, with whom he was friendly, in which repeated reference was made to his trainee in sexually explicit terms. He repeatedly sent text messages to the trainee in relation to matters which did not fall within the sphere of her professional duties. He repeatedly attempted to persuade her to socialise with him, visit him at home and befriend his fiancée. When engaged in email correspondence with the other female, which contained other sexual comments, the respondent made reference to the statement of a child complainer in a sexual abuse case. The respondent had access to the statement in his capacity as the accused’s solicitor. He breached client confidentiality. The conduct drew the respondent’s integrity into question and the profession into disrepute.

The Tribunal considered that striking off was the only appropriate sanction. The respondent admitted that he found the sexual abuse of a child titillating and sexually gratifying and had used those circumstances to further a sexual conversation. This conduct was a danger to the public and was likely to seriously damage the reputation of the legal profession. It showed that the respondent was not a fit person to be a solicitor.