ROBERT PETER WESTON

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

The Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee brought a motion following a report by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, which had heard 17 references against practitioner Robert Peter Weston and found him guilty on each of unprofessional/illegal conduct, gross overcharging and neglect. Key findings included unauthorised withdrawals of client trust moneys (including $158,294 from an estate and $29,225 from a property sale), failure to reconcile his trust account, abandoning his practice without notice, and neglecting clients. He blamed his common law wife and accounts manager (Ms Marks) and a burglary, but the Tribunal did not accept these explanations, noting he was primarily responsible for compliance. The Full Bench of the WA Supreme Court agreed the conduct demonstrated the practitioner was not a fit and proper person to remain in the profession, and ordered him struck off the roll with costs. No express finding of dishonesty was made; conduct was characterised as serious illegal and unprofessional conduct.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Continuity and handover of representation
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• 17 references initiated against the practitioner, found guilty on each
• Extremely serious breaches of a solicitor's trust account obligations
• Large sums of client money unaccounted for
• Neglect of clients and abandonment of practice without notice