Decision record
Gow, Samantha Catherine
Allegation / charges
The Prothonotary relied on 27 particulars spanning the period 2014-2024. These included: 1. 2014 convictions in Queensland for breach of bail, being drunk in a public place, and committing public nuisance; 2. failure between 2016 and 2017 to comply with an undertaking to complete a Practice Management Course; 3. dishonest conduct in 2017 concerning client monies, resulting in a successful Fidelity Fund claim by Mrs Ferguson; 4. falsely holding herself out as a solicitor in Queensland and New South Wales in 2018, including in R v Hadfield and Volkswagen Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd v Gow; 5. 2021 convictions in Queensland for forging and uttering court documents purporting to be orders of the Federal Circuit Court, for which she was sentenced to nine months imprisonment (suspended after 70 days); 6. breach of bail conditions in 2021; 7. a 2023 assault on her mother, resulting in a 12-month Community Corrections Order and an apprehended violence order; and 8. 2024 driving offences in Victoria, resulting in fines and licence disqualification — Not a fit and proper person to remain on the Roll of Australian Lawyers
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Based on 27 particulars spanning 2014-2024, including dishonest handling of client monies, forging and uttering court documents, falsely holding herself out as a solicitor, and various criminal convictions, the tribunal found the practitioner was not a fit and proper person to remain on the Roll of Australian Lawyers. Dishonesty was expressly found (2017 client monies and 2021 forgery convictions), and the practitioner was removed from the Roll.
Duties found breached:
- Cease acting on client perjury or disobedience
- No conflict between current clients
- No standing bail or surety for client
- No improper use of client money
- Competence
- Not misrepresent regulated status
Aggravating factors:
- Course of misconduct spanning 2014-2024 across multiple jurisdictions
- Multiple criminal convictions including forgery and dishonesty offences
- Falsely holding herself out as a solicitor
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["extracted_from_register_summary"]
Duties engaged
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Documents
Source: https://portal.olsc.nsw.gov.au/dasearchbn/daresultdetail/?id=1f7f9131-4808-4aea-9f48-0c61a4ea90f6