A Wollongong solicitor found guilty of professional misconduct after failing to pay his own lawyer has been fined and sent back to school.
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The Civil and Administrative Tribunal last November found Anthony Autore’s conduct in leaving a $12,600 bill from his barrister unpaid for more than three years showed a “substantial and consistent failure to maintain a reasonable standard of competence and diligence” under his professional obligations as a practising lawyer.
This week, the tribunal fined Autore $5,000 and order him to complete a practice management course, with an emphasis on legal ethics, within six months, but stopped short of suspending his practising licence.
The tribunal heard Autore hired Sydney silk Michael McHugh SC in late 2013 to represent him in an appeal against a $29,000 judgement from the Local Court over an earlier unpaid bill from another barrister.
Mr McHugh advised Autore in writing of the expected costs twice – once at the time he was hired and again via a formal “undertaking” two weeks before the appeal was heard in the NSW Supreme Court on May 21, 2014.
(The appeal was ultimately dismissed and Autore ordered to pay the outstanding $29,000.)
Meantime, Mr McHugh’s fees remained unpaid, despite assurances from Autore the money would be forthcoming.
Mr McHugh subsequently lodged a complaint with the Legal Services Commission, leading to Autore being ordered to front the tribunal, who ultimately found him guilty of breaching his professional responsibilities as a practising lawyer.
In handing down the penalty this week, the tribunal accepted that Autore was sorry for his actions and had since paid Mr McHugh the full amount owed to him.
“I apologise to the Law Society….I was under a great deal of financial stress and as a sole practitioner found it difficult not having someone to communicate with,” Autore wrote in his affidavit to the court.
“In hindsight (another person) may have assisted me in dealing with the matter in a more efficient manner.”
Autore also said he was now a more active member of the Illawarra Law Society and was confident if professional conduct or ethical issues arose in the future he would seek help from senior colleagues.
The tribunal also heard Autore had himself recently been paid a sum of money owed to him for work he did in a bankrupt estate.