Man branded ‘sad and pathetic’ by solicitor

String of emails included reference to anti-Irish racism

A Perth solicitor has been found guilty of professional misconduct after he branded a man who had sought his help“sad and pathetic” and urged him to “get a job”.

Ross James Porter was censured after details emerged about emails he sent to the man and his mother six years ago during a hearing held in Edinburgh last November by the Scottish Solicitor’s Discipline Tribunal.

The independent body found the 56-yearold’s emails “were inappropriate, derogatory and offensive in their nature”, were “capable of bringing the profession into disrepute” and “drew [Mr Porter’s] integrity into question”.

Its written findings reveal Mr Porter was asked by the man by email to settle a dispute between his mum and a builder back in January 2014, but over the course of several months their exchanges grew more and more discourteous.

One email Mr Porter sent to the complainer in April that year said: “In my dealings with you, you have struck me as the sort of person who doesn’t like to be told he is wrong.

“I’m telling you you are wrong. You made a complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints

Commission ... they found your claims to be vexatious and I agree with them.

“If you are so convinced you are right take it to another solicitor and see what he or she says, get a second opinion, by all means prove me wrong. That’s all I have to say.”

And after the complainer claimed in another email he had a masters degree in psychology and suggested the solicitor might have “issues”, Mr Porter wrote back: “Quite frankly the insults or comments in your email mean nothing whatsoever to me coming from someone like you.

“You may be impressed by your degree, I’m not. Nor would anyone who has actually been to university. How many Cs did you need to do psychology, it is not exactly hard to get into.

“And what have you done with your degree, you are in your 40s, unemployed, living off the state and have been for some time. As a result of the various mental health issues which you clearly have, you are weighed down by the enormous chip on your shoulder.

“You are obviously unemployable, lazy or stupid, probably all three.

“You are a sad and pathetic man. In order to bolster your flagging ego and sense of self worth you are argumentative, arrogant, pedantic and literal, the last vestiges of a fool. You seem to enjoy taking swipes at those of us that are at least trying to do something productive with our lives, however unsuccessful we may be in your eyes, at least we are trying, you are so pathetic you don’t even try.

“If you wish me to take you or your comments seriously then get a job. Even if you swept the streets or cleaned toilets I would have some respect for you, but clearly you are not even up to that. I’m glad I won’t have to deal with you further and I pity anyone who does.”

Then just half an hour later Mr Porter also wrote to the complainer’s mother, convinced her son was responding to emails he had been sending to her, stating: “I have never resorted to insults but your son, who obviously wrote your last email, clearly feels the need to do so, including openly insulting my family.

“It is cowardly and unpleasant to do that, especially in an email and quite frankly that is a new low for me.

“I’m not sure your son would have dared do it to my face. I’m Irish and my family have farms in Ireland, my uncle who manages them is fond of saying ‘But sure what would you expect from a pig but a grunt’. Our business looks like it is at an end.”

And responding to another email seemingly sent by the man’s mother stating Mr Porter’s family background ‘explained’ his behaviour, the solicitor went on: “This charade of you pretending to be your mother is quite laughable. And yes, all cowards say that they would insult people to their faces but they never ever do.

“How can my family background explain a lot, how can having 400 acres of farmland explain anything? Or are we going to have racial slurs now too? Is that the next thing, racial insults because I’m Irish? That’s enough of this.”

Mr Porter could not be reached for comment.