Robert Kenneth COCHRANE

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Solicitor Robert Cochrane faced 15 charges including eleven failures to comply with regulatory notices, misleading the Federal Magistrates Court, contempt of the Family Court, a trust account breach, and practising without a certificate. The Tribunal found the misleading-court charge not made out (no neglect/default alleged), found the notice defaults constituted professional misconduct, and found the contempt, trust breach and no-certificate matters to be unsatisfactory professional conduct. No dishonesty was found; the misconduct was linked to mental illness and stressors, not a character defect. He was publicly reprimanded, fined $7,500, ordered to pay $2,500 costs, restricted to supervised practice for three years, and subjected to mentoring orders.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Multiple charges over an extended period (2005-2007)
• Serious professional misconduct in aggregate, indicative of unfitness at the time
• Delay of eight months to respond to one notice

Mitigating factors:

• Admissions of guilt to charges
• Misconduct related to mental illness (anxiety and depression) associated with work and personal stressors rather than character flaw
• Significant matrimonial and financial stressors including practice receivership
• Recovery through psychiatric/psychological treatment
• Contempt was not wilful, resulted from ignorance of law
• Trust account breach involved no defalcation, poor record keeping, or client loss
• Positive references from employer and satisfied clients
• No longer practising as principal; seeking only supervised employed practice
• Limited capacity to pay (fine would have been heavier otherwise)