A former Canberra lawyer who fraudulently accepted tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees has been jailed by a judge who labelled him "a thoroughly dishonest man" and slammed his money-making ruse as "bordering on the pathological".
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Stephen Stubbs, 64, was sentenced to three years and one month imprisonment for accepting more than $29,000 in payments from Legal Aid ACT and a client's mother to defend her son for a conspiracy to murder charge.
Stubbs was led from the ACT Supreme Court in handcuffs to serve one year of his sentence behind bars, with the rest suspended upon entering a good behaviour order for more than two years.
A jury found Stubbs guilty of 14 fraud offences after one day of deliberations and a dramatic trial in December.
Stubbs was representing Alexander Duffy, then 19, when he demanded $25,000 for legal work from his mother, Anne Duffy, and $4000 from the Legal Aid office, which provides legal representation to vulnerable and disadvantage citizens, in 2008 and 2009.
Lawyers are not allowed to take outside money for a case after a client has been granted legal aid, and Stubbs had not told either party he was accepting funds from the other.
In scathing sentencing remarks delivered on Thursday, Justice John Burns said Stubbs was driven purely by greed and had shown no remorse.
"You lied during the course of your trial for the purpose of trying to avoid the consequences of your wrongdoing.
"As part of your lies you made outrageous allegations against your former client Alexander Duffy and Mrs Duffy.
"You lied to the author of the pre-sentence report in order to try to minimise your culpability.
"You are a thoroughly dishonest man, who will say whatever you think may be of benefit to you at any particular time."
Justice Burns said Stubbs' moral culpability for his deception was high. His actions were premeditated rather than opportunistic and formed a "deliberate and calculated course of conduct".
"It borders on the pathological that you felt the need to steal from Mrs Duffy and from the Legal Aid office amounts of money which, to you, at that time could not have been particularly significant."
Justice Burns said the crimes were particularly reprehensible given Stubbs knew Mrs Duffy was distraught at the proceedings against her son and was in a difficult financial position.
Stubbs had held himself out as someone she could trust as a legal practitioner.
"You knew Mrs Duffy was vulnerable and you took advantage of that vulnerability in a most calculating way to appropriate from her what was, for her, a large sum of money."
The court heard Stubbs had told a pre-sentence report author his offences were "a sloppy practice and a stupid mistake". He had since paid reparations to the court for Legal Aid and Mrs Duffy.
His trial stalled for several days when Stubbs, who defended himself after splitting with his barrister, failed to show at court one morning after admitting himself to Goulburn Hospital claiming illness.
Justice Burns accepted Stubbs had ongoing heart problems, but said the extent to which his condition affected his mental capacity had been in dispute.
He placed little weight on medical evidence put before the court to support ongoing psychological problems, noting Stubbs appeared "astute" throughout the trial.
"You may not be an experienced or skilled trial advocate but I'm satisfied that your performance during the trial revealed no significant intellectual deficits."
The court heard Stubbs, who lives on a property near Goulburn and has been on bail, claimed he lived off Centrelink benefits but had sold parcels of land for more than $1 million in recent years.
He was convicted of dishonesty offences in the 1970s.
Justice Burns said Stubbs' criminal history would inevitably have been a concern when he was admitted to practice as a lawyer in the ACT, but said the court must have been convinced he'd reformed himself.
Stubbs had squandered the trust shown in him when he went on to commit the fraud within three years of his admission.
"I hold out little hope for any true reformation on your part bearing in mind your age, your thoroughly dishonest character as revealed in this trial, and your lack of remorse."
The judge said it was important to send a strong message that legal practitioners who abused the trust of the community would be severely punished.
Stubbs will be released from jail next February.
