Catherine KINCAID

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

Ms Kincaid, a Gold Coast family law principal, advised her client (a company bookkeeper in a de facto property dispute) to withdraw further company funds without authority rather than return money already misappropriated. The advice encouraged criminal conduct. She eventually conceded the conduct constituted professional misconduct. The Tribunal found professional misconduct but made no finding of dishonesty, noting she did not realize her advice was an encouragement to crime. She was publicly reprimanded, fined $10,000, ordered to pay $2,000 costs, and made subject to supervision and further legal ethics education conditions upon resuming practice.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Advice encouraged the client to commit further criminal offences
• Failed to consult another practitioner outside family law about the dangers of the advice
• Conduct had potentially serious consequences for client and others

Mitigating factors:

• After court proceedings came to her attention, took steps to obtain advice for her client
• No previous adverse disciplinary findings
• Co-operated with the investigation and did not contest primary facts
• Did not realize her advice was an encouragement to crime