A lawyer who did "everything in his power" to avoid paying $10,000 back to a client he negligently represented has been found guilty of professional misconduct.
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The client had taken the unnamed lawyer to court for negligence in October 2005 over his handling of a defamation action.
The case settled four years later, and the client then tried to recover the fees the lawyer had charged for the negligent work on the defamation case. The lawyer agreed to pay back that money, but did not do so.
A complaint was made to the ACT Law Society, and the practitioner was pursued for misconduct in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
In a judgment published on Wednesday, the court found the lawyer guilty of professional misconduct.
It found he had done everything he could to avoid paying back the money, and described his conduct as "most dishonourable".
"The practitioner reneged on his obligation at an early stage and did everything in his power to avoid the debt.
"This extended to deliberately misleading a court and a fellow practitioner who was acting for the respondent.
"He went to great lengths to use his training and experience in the legal profession and his knowledge of the courts and their procedures to thwart the legitimate entitlement of the former client."
The tribunal found the lawyer had regrettably been successful in his efforts to avoid paying the money.
"This he has done without one shred of indication to the tribunal of contrition or regret."
The lawyer had relied on statements from friends and families that the conduct was out of character. Those statements also suggested there was some remorse. But the tribunal rejected that it was out of character for the lawyer.
"The tribunal cannot accept that the conduct was out of character: it caused considerable harm; it was considered; it was constant over an extended period of time; and there are the prior disciplinary proceedings, one of which involved the issue of misleading a court and was being finalised at the relevant time," the judgement said.
It recommended the lawyer's name be removed from the roll of legal practitioners in the ACT and interstate, that his interstate practising certificate be cancelled, and that he pay the costs of the Law Society.
