MARK TERENCE TROWELL

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

Mark Terence Trowell QC, a Perth criminal law barrister, was asked by the Commonwealth Attorney General in 2005 to assist Schapelle Corby, an Australian imprisoned in Bali on drug charges. The State Administrative Tribunal found that Ms Corby became Trowell's client at a prison meeting on 6 June 2005 and that between then and 23 June 2005 he made five media disclosures of confidential information about her matter (criticising her Bali legal team and revealing a bribery proposal by Mr Rasiah) without her informed consent, constituting unprofessional conduct. The Tribunal rejected the argument that no confidence attached to the bribery claim and found the disclosures were detrimental to her interests and motivated partly by personal interests. The Tribunal expressly declined to find dishonesty. Given the unusual circumstances, previous good character, and low risk of reoffending, the Tribunal imposed a reprimand rather than the fine sought by the LPCC, and ordered costs of $55,000 (by consent).

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Disclose material information to client

Aggravating factors:

• Client (Ms Corby) was in an extraordinarily vulnerable position, imprisoned in Indonesia facing a lengthy sentence
• Disclosures made to the press rather than through appropriate private channels
• Disclosures motivated in part by the practitioner's personal dispute with Mr Rasiah and desire to promote himself in the media
• Five separate disclosures made over 11 days
• Practitioner's seniority as Queen's Counsel (relevant to the standard of care expected)

Mitigating factors:

• No finding of dishonesty or intention to cause client detriment
• Practitioner genuinely believed Ms Corby was not his client
• Unusual circumstances - approached by the Commonwealth Attorney General, acting pro bono without instructing solicitors, client in a foreign jurisdiction
• Practitioner received no financial benefit and travelled to Bali at his own cost
• Previous good character with 26 years' practice and no prior blot on his reputation
• 48 character references attesting to high regard within profession and community
• Unlikely to reoffend; general and specific deterrence diminished
• Expression of sincere regret through counsel
• Stress, public humiliation and hurt already suffered from the proceedings