PETER BRUCE DE BARRAN CULLEN

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

Senior WA practitioner Peter Cullen was found guilty of unprofessional conduct/unsatisfactory conduct for failing to properly maintain his trust account. Over 27 months, bank errors deposited $107,980 of trust monies into his general account; the errors were compounded by his auditors and bookkeeper failing to correct or report the problem. Cullen drew on the trust account creating debit balances in client ledgers, breaching rr 94(2) and 99 of the 1949 Rules. There was no allegation or finding of dishonesty, and he remedied the deficiency promptly once informed. Despite a prior 1997 finding of similar unprofessional conduct, the Tribunal declined the Committee's request for a two-year suspension, instead imposing a reprimand, an $8000 fine, two years of practical trust-account reconciliation conditions, a publication order, and $2000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports

Aggravating factors:

• Prior 1997 finding of unprofessional conduct in relation to operation of trust account, including similar failure to comply with r 99
• Substantial amount of money involved ($107,980.13 misdeposited)
• Serious risk to other clients' trust monies, with general account overdrawn by about $90,000 or more throughout the period
• Conduct occurred over a substantial period (27 months, 13 occasions)
• Despite previous further study ordered, still failed to properly maintain trust account

Mitigating factors:

• No allegation or finding of dishonesty
• Conduct originated from bank errors not caused by the practitioner
• Errors compounded by auditors' and bookkeeper's failures, not the practitioner's fault
• Practitioner promptly remedied the deficiency once informed (within about a month)
• Early plea and acceptance of responsibility
• Senior practitioner (admitted 1965) with strong character references attesting to honesty and competence
• Practitioner suffering from a liver condition during part of the relevant period