Michael James QUINN

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

The respondent, a sole practitioner, was convicted of fraud with a circumstance of aggravation after unlawfully drawing trust moneys totalling just over $30,000 without client authorisation over about 16 months. QCAT found this amounted to professional misconduct under both limbs of s 419 LPA, with an express element of dishonesty inherent in the fraud conviction. Given the seriousness, currency of the conviction, and that it occurred in legal practice, the tribunal recommended his name be removed from the Roll of Solicitors and ordered him to pay the Commissioner's costs on the standard basis. No client suffered loss and the respondent admitted the charges.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Conviction for a serious offence of dishonesty committed during legal practice
• Defalcations occurred over a period of about 16 months
• Solicitor of about 12 years' experience at the time
• Relative currency of the conviction
• Involved trust account defalcations totalling just over $30,000

Mitigating factors:

• No client suffered loss / no client out of pocket
• Respondent admitted all charges and underlying facts
• Respondent did not minimise the seriousness of his conduct and acknowledged no place in the profession for such conduct