Legal Service Commissioner v Biddle

CITATION:

Legal Service Commissioner v Biddle [2017] QCAT 119

PARTIES:

Legal Services Commissioner
(Applicant)

v

Russell William Tracy Biddle

(Respondent)

APPLICATION NUMBER:

OCR002-16

MATTER TYPE:

Occupational regulation matters

HEARING DATE:

11 April 2017

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Justice D.G. Thomas, President
Assisted by:
Ms Julie Cameron, Legal panel member

Dr Margaret Steinberg AM, Lay panel member

DELIVERED ON:

27 April 2017

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

ORDERS MADE:

1.    The name of the respondent, Russell William Tracy Biddle is to be removed from the Roll of Practitioners kept by the Supreme Court of Queensland.

2.    The respondent is to pay the applicant’s costs to be assessed on the standard basis on the Supreme Court Scale under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) in the manner that the costs would be assessed were the matter in the Supreme Court of Queensland.

CATCHWORDS:

PROFESSIONS AND TRADES – LAWYERS – COMPLAINTS AND DISCIPLINE – DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS – PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT OR UNSATISFACTORY PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT – TRUST FUNDS – where respondent charged and convicted upon guilty plea of 10 counts of dishonest application of trust property – where respondent admits to professional misconduct – where respondent not opposed to order removing his name from the roll of practitioners – whether respondent’s conduct amounts to professional misconduct – whether respondent a fit and proper person – whether respondent’s name should be removed from the roll of practitioners

Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) ss 418, 419, 420, 456, 462
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) ss 32, 92

Adamson v Queensland Law Society Incorporated [1990] 1 Qd R 498

Attorney-General v Bax [1999] 2 Qd R 9

Legal Services Commissioner v Voll [2016] QCAT 096
Queensland Law Society v Carberry [2000] QCA 450
Queensland Law Society v Whitman [2003] QCA 438

APPEARANCES:

This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to section 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (‘QCAT Act’).

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. The Legal Services Commissioner original alleged that the following charges constitute professional misconduct and/or unsatisfactory professional conduct.

   Charge 1 –      Improper dealing with client’s trust money for his own benefit   Estate of Carol Ann Dawson.

   Charge 2 –      Improper dealing with client’s trust money for his own benefit   Estate of Alice Esther Webster.

   Charge 3 –      Improper dealing with client’s trust money for his own benefit

   Estate of Thea Lois Moroney.

   Charge 4 –      Improper dealing with client’s trust money for his own benefit

   Estate of Deb Claire Bonner.

   Charge 5 –      Improper dealing with client’s trust money for his own benefit

   Estate of Ivy Margaret Benfer.

   Charge 6 –      Improper dealing with client’s trust money for his own benefit

   Estate of Jacoba Brouwer.

2. The proceedings were put into abeyance pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings against the respondent.

3. Following the conclusion of those criminal proceedings on 7 December 2016, the Legal Services Commissioner amended the charges to read as follows:

   The commissioner alleges that the following charge constitutes professional misconduct and/or unsatisfactory professional conduct.