The charges included misconduct for holding client funds as a barrister, professional negligence or incompetence for failing to progress a relationship property matter in a timely and efficient manner, and unsatisfactory conduct for charging excessive fees. The Tribunal asserted that “every client who consults a lawyer is entitled to expect that his or her instructions will be carried out promptly and competently. Conduct which falls short of this diminishes confidence in the legal profession as a whole.” In terms of penalty, Ms Leach was censured and directed to apologise to the complainant and partially refund fees. The Tribunal also made orders relating to Ms Leach’s practice, which would apply if she decided to return to practice.

The background to the matter was that the complainant instructed Ms Leach in relation to a relationship property matter in October 2017. Ms Leach was practising as a barrister and held herself out as having expertise in relationship property litigation. The complainant emphasised her keenness for proceedings to be issued as soon as possible so she could “get on with her life”. In April 2018, the client paid $700.00 into Ms Leach’s office account to cover a filing fee. Despite being invoiced for the work to prepare and file the proceedings, and assurances that the application had been filed, the application was not filed by Ms Leach until December 2018. Ms Leach therefore held client funds in her practice account for a period of four months. When the complainant asked for reasons for the delay, or updates on progress, Ms Leach was unable to provide an explanation.

In terms of liability, Ms Leach accepted that her failure to progress the application to determine the complainant’s relationship property, as instructed, in a timely and competent manner amounted to negligence or incompetence in her professional capacity. Ms Leach accepted a further charge of unsatisfactory conduct for charging more than a fair and reasonable fee. However, Ms Leach denied that holding the filing fee was misconduct and argued that it should be considered unsatisfactory conduct.

The Tribunal accepted that the retention of funds was not an intentional act by Ms Leach, but found that she ought to have known that she had unaccounted funds in her practice account. The error was only exposed when the complainant queried the lack of progress in the proceedings and contacted the court directly.  The Tribunal noted the obligation for lawyers to only hold client funds in a trust account, and that it is a fundamental obligation of all lawyers to ensure the safe and proper use of client funds. It determined Ms Leach’s conduct constituted a reckless breach of the relevant provisions and was therefore misconduct.

The Tribunal then turned to penalty, and noted that Ms Leach had retired from practice. Ms Leach was censured, directed to apologise to the complainant, and to refund two invoices for fees (totalling $7601.03). The Tribunal made orders “directed to the protection of the public and education and rehabilitation of the practitioner should she in the future elect to return to practice”, including an order prohibiting Ms Leach from practising on her own account until authorised to do so by the Tribunal. Ms Leach was also ordered to pay costs.