Re Wendy Anne Wright

Wendy Anne Wright, a former solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland, sought readmission as a legal practitioner. She was previously struck off the roll of solicitors in 1999 after being found guilty of six counts of professional misconduct by the Solicitors Complaints Tribunal. Wright’s unsuccessful appeal to the Court of Appeal and her application for special leave to appeal to the High Court were both dismissed. Her application for readmission was made more than two years after the last step in the previous proceeding, requiring her to seek leave to proceed under rule 389(2) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld).

The legal issues before the court were whether Wright’s delay in seeking readmission justified granting leave to proceed and whether her application for readmission had prospects of success. The court needed to assess Wright’s remorse and her fitness to practice law, considering her previous misconduct and the delay in her application. The court had to balance these factors against the principles of finality and the need for a fair process in considering her readmission.

The court granted leave to proceed, noting that while there was a significant delay in Wright’s application, she had shown remorse for some of her past conduct and had taken steps to rehabilitate herself. The court found that there were prospects of success in her application for readmission. However, it ordered Wright to pay the costs of the application to the Queensland Law Society and the Legal Services Commission. The court also set a timetable for the further affidavits, statements of issues, and responses, allowing both sides to prepare for the next stages of the application.