Improper Conduct, includes, but is not limited to:

• A contravention of, or failure to comply with, any provision of any enactment, any procedure rule or practice direction which applies in the civil, criminal or family courts, or any order of the civil, criminal or family courts with which it is the Member’s duty to comply.
• A conviction or caution in the United Kingdom for a criminal offence, or a conviction elsewhere for an offence which, if committed in England and Wales, would constitute a criminal offence.
• A determination by any statutory, chartered or other professional regulatory body in the United Kingdom to the effect that the person’s fitness to practise as a member of that profession is impaired or that the person is guilty of professional misconduct (however described), or a determination by a regulatory body elsewhere to the same effect.
• A failure to perform any professional services or duties with such a degree of professional competence, due care and skill as may reasonably be expected, or a failure to perform the professional services or duties at all.
• A breach of any published or adopted code of professional conduct of TAE.
• Any conduct which has brought, or has the potential to, bring discredit upon TAE.

• TAE cannot consider complaints against those who are not members of The Academy of Experts.
• TAE cannot investigate complaints about the conduct of solicitors and barristers except when they are TAE members acting as an Expert.
• TAE will not investigate complaints about an Expert’s private life or non-professional activities, or where the complaint concerns the Expert’s conduct in his primary profession.
• Where the matter is still continuing TAE cannot investigate the complaint until it and any appeals have concluded. An exception may be made where a complaint impinges significantly upon the ability of the individual to practise as an Expert.
• TAE cannot investigate claims of negligence. If you think one of our Members has been negligent you should seek advice from an independent legal adviser. Generally single acts of negligence do not amount to improper conduct, although repeated acts of negligence may well do so.

The complaints procedure is overseen by the Chairman of TAE’s Investigations Committee (“CIC”). The CIC is neither a practising Expert nor a TAE member and has complete independence from TAE in the decisions that he makes. The CIC is able to investigate and dismiss complaints if he does not believe that they are justified.

The CIC can ask the Member, solicitor or other witnesses for their comments on a complaint. The Member’s comments will always be sent to the complainant. The CIC can also ask for technical advice from Experts on issues connected with the complaint.

If the Investigations Committee considers that the complaint does not amount to improper conduct, it will dismiss it. If the Investigations Committee finds that there is a prima facie case of improper conduct then it may either:

1. if the matter does not warrant a serious penalty such as suspension or expulsion from TAE, offer the Member a consent order, or
2. if the matter is sufficiently serious, it will request the Chief Executive to convene a Disciplinary Tribunal whose Members will be drawn from TAE’s Disciplinary Panel.

If the Disciplinary Tribunal finds that a charge of improper conduct has been established it has a range of penalties that can be imposed. These extend from a reprimand to expulsion from TAE.

At the request of a member and within 14 days of making a decision, the Disciplinary Tribunal has the power to re-open and review that decision.

If the Member is still dissatisfied with the penalty imposed by the Tribunal, he can appeal against the Tribunal’s decision to an Appeal Tribunal of TAE, but only with regard to the penalty imposed, provided that he lodges an Appeal within 28 days of the Tribunal’s decision.

A complainant cannot appeal the decisions of the Investigations Committee or the Disciplinary Tribunal. The Chairman of the Investigations Committee may be prepared to ask the Investigation Committees to look at the matter again if you produce additional evidence in support of your complaint, which for some justifiable reason has not previously been supplied.

TAE maintains a record of the disciplinary decisions that either the Investigations Committee, the Disciplinary Tribunal or an Appeal Tribunal have made.

For further information, contact The Academy of Experts.