Ian George Marsh RICHARDSON

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

In Legal Services Commissioner v Richardson [2009] LPT 17, the Queensland Legal Practice Tribunal found solicitor Ian George Marsh Richardson guilty of professional misconduct on Charge 1 (dishonestly/improperly using enduring powers of attorney to obtain his clients' certificates of title in order to claim a possessory lien for unpaid fees, breaching his duties and preferring his own interests) and Charge 2 (acting deceitfully towards clients Mr and Mrs West by concealing his negligence and acting without instructions). The Tribunal expressly found dishonesty in relation to Charge 1. It also found unsatisfactory professional conduct on Charge 4 for failing to co-operate with investigations of eight complaints. The Tribunal declined to elevate the Charge 4 failures to professional misconduct given no charge of breach of a s 443(3) notice was made. No sanction, fine or costs order was stated; the Tribunal indicated it would proceed to determine the appropriate order under s 456.

Duties found breached:

• No own-interest conflict
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Experienced solicitor (admitted 1976) who well knew he was in a situation of conflict
• Deliberate concealment of errors from clients rather than owning up
• Pattern of ignoring first requests for information across numerous complaints, only responding after statutory notices issued
• Multiple complaints from many former clients over an extended period

Mitigating factors:

• Suffered from serious ill health during the relevant period (histiocytosis with type 1 respiratory failure, triple vessel ischaemic heart disease), including hospitalisation
• Ultimately provided explanations and files, and the Society was often satisfied with his responses
• No fee charged for the West litigation and eventual reimbursement of some clients (e.g. Corish)
• Dispute with the Litherlands settled and complaint withdrawn