A Brisbane practitioner is to be struck off after he lied repeatedly to clients while delaying their litigation for two years.
In his decision delivered in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Brisbane on 15 May, Member Peter Lyons KC ruled the practitioner was not a fit and proper person to engage in legal practice.
The Legal Services Commissioner’s (LSC) two charges arose out of the practitioner’s conduct of litigation on behalf of a couple and their daughter between April 2018 and June 2020.
The LSC alleged he failed to maintain reasonable standards of competence and diligence through a delay in pursuing litigation, and that he made false, vague, misleading or dishonest representations to his clients.
At the time, the practitioner was the sole principal of the Newstead legal practice which bore his name.
He took over conduct of the clients’ District Court matter in 2017, but after June 2018 took no further step in the proceeding.
In June 2020, the family engaged another firm to take over conduct of the matter, and given the two-year lapse, was required to apply for an order under rule 389 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules for a new step to be taken in the proceedings.
In his decision on that successful application, Judge Ken Barlow KC stated he was satisfied the practitioner had continually lied about progressing the litigation.
“(The practitioner’s) file has disclosed that a substantial amount of the things he told (the clients) were lies. He did not take most of the steps that he said he was taking, or there is no evidence on file to demonstrate that he did,” Judge Barlow KC stated.
He also ordered that his reasons be referred to the LSC.
In relation to charge 1, Member Lyons KC said the respondent’s conduct involved a substantial and consistent failure to maintain a reasonable standard of competence and diligence, and accordingly should be characterised as professional misconduct.
In relation to charge 2, Member Lyons KC listed dishonest representations the practitioner made to the family, including that the practitioner had corresponded with the other party’s solicitors; met with and engaged counsel; and completed and filed paperwork.
“The respondent has engaged in a course of conduct which involved the making of dishonest statements to his clients on a number of occasions over an extensive period of time,” he said.
“There was a substantial failure to maintain the standards to be expected of a member of the legal profession.
“The respondent’s conduct would reasonably be regarded as disgraceful or dishonourable by his professional colleagues of good repute and competency. It amounts to professional misconduct.”
The practitioner admitted he had been repeatedly dishonest to the family about the conduct of the proceedings. He said he lied to the clients “to try and ‘buy himself time’ to catch up”, and had been overwhelmed by his workload.
He also said he had shown genuine remorse and had voluntarily completed the Queensland Law Society’s Legal Ethics Course in 2022.
He submitted that an order recommending the removal of his name from the roll of local solicitors was a “far more severe penalty than necessary” and “would be grossly disproportionate”.
Member Lyons KC agreed with the LSC’s submission that an order be made to remove the practitioner’s name from the roll.
He said the lawyer’s dishonesty was extensive and protracted.
“It should however be noted that on some occasions, multiple dishonest statements were made,” he said.
“At times the dishonest statements involved some elaborate deception.
“The respondent’s dishonest conduct the subject of charge 2 demonstrates he was, at that time, not a fit and proper person to engage in legal practice.
“There is no reason to think that his character has materially changed.”
The practitioner was also ordered to pay the LSC’s costs.
Read the decision here.
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