Jeremy Stuart Gordon Donaldson

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

Jeremy Stuart Gordon Donaldson, a Victoria sole practitioner, admitted professional misconduct in an Agreed Statement of Facts. Between 2002 and 2007 he misappropriated client trust funds by pre-taking and back-dating fees for work not yet done, cleared client trust balances without doing work, swore false statutory declarations to the Law Society, misled clients and the Law Society through duplicate/back-dated invoices, assisted a client in dishonest conduct (cash payment to hide funds from a pension payor), failed to remit collected PST, and committed numerous Division 7 trust accounting rule breaches. He had a prior 2003 citation for failing to remit PST/GST. As a result of his admissions he undertook to resign his membership and not seek reinstatement for 10 years from July 30, 2008, with restrictions on practising elsewhere.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Diligence and timeliness

Aggravating factors:

• Prior 2003 citation and discipline for failing to remit collected PST/GST ($26,250)
• Misconduct occurred while under existing hearing panel conditions (statutory declarations)
• Repeated and prolonged pattern of misconduct over several years (2002-2007)
• Multiple clients affected
• Deliberate deception of clients and the Law Society through back-dated invoices and false declarations
• Statement to Law Society: 'I know you didn't find anything in the books, this is just heat'

Mitigating factors:

• Self-reported the earlier PST/GST failure
• Cooperated with the Law Society and admitted the misconduct via Agreed Statement of Facts
• Voluntary interim withdrawal from practice on July 30, 2008
• Substantially or entirely repaid outstanding PST by end of 2008 and agreed to reimburse clients
• Work was ultimately performed in the pre-taking cases