Decision record
C. Judith Pantry
Appeals and appellate references
- Appellate document — relationship to this matter unverified: Court of Appeal Michael Lorne V The General Legal Council
“Unverified” means the upstream page linked an appellate judgment but did not preserve enough context to prove that it was an appeal in this matter.
Allegation / charges
Reprimanded, Fined | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered February 25, 2022. || Guilty of Professional Misconduct | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered November 11, 2021. View PDF DECISION OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL COMPLAINT NO: 56/2020 BETWEEN …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Retired conveyancing attorney Judith Pantry was found guilty of professional misconduct under Canon VII(b)(ii) for failing to account to the complainant (agent for her elderly parents, the vendors) for all monies held on their behalf from a property sale, including interest, exchange rates and bank charges. The Committee rejected jurisdictional and locus standi challenges. No express finding of dishonesty was made. The Panel reprimanded the attorney, imposed a $250,000 fine to the GLC, ordered restitution of $1,755,250.29 to the complainant (including compound interest), $100,000 in complainant's legal costs, and $30,000 in costs of proceedings.
Duties found breached:
- No taking unfair advantage
- No improper use of client money
- Account for interest on client money
- Not misrepresent regulated status
Aggravating factors:
- Attorney not remorseful
- Attorney was evasive, cavalier and not candid during proceedings
- Attorney maintained that her friendship with the client removed the need to comply with professional duties
- Attorney still owes clients monies due from the property sale
Mitigating factors:
- Longstanding friendship of over 35-40 years between attorney and complainant
- Informal arrangements and discounted fees based on friendship
- Attorney facilitated disbursements in tranches at the client's request
Duties engaged
- Honesty
- No taking unfair advantage
- Personal probity and fitness to practise
- Uphold public trust in the profession
- No improper use of client money
- Prompt accounting and return of money
- Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
- Account for interest on client money
- Not misrepresent regulated status
Other decisions involving this respondent
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