Decision record
CLARENCE JAMES STEVENS
JurisdictionAustralia — Western Australia
BodyLegal Practice Board of Western Australia (LPBWA)
Professionlawyer — 13th Floor, Selborne Chambers 174 Phillip Street SYDNEY NSW 2000
Case numberLegal Practitioners Complaints Committee v Stevens [2006] WASC 314
Date19 December 2006
HearingSupreme Court of WA
OutcomeStruck Off the Roll of Practitioners
Allegation / charges
Struck Off the Roll of Practitioners
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
SanctionStrike Off
Dishonesty foundNo
Under s 204 of the Legal Practice Act 2003 (WA), the Full Bench considered a report from the State Administrative Tribunal after the respondent had been struck off in New South Wales in September 2003 over non-lodgment of income tax returns and related convictions. The Court found the conduct grave enough to warrant striking off and, seeing no alternative, ordered the practitioner's name removed from the Roll in Western Australia. Delays in the process were criticised but did not alter the outcome. No express finding of dishonesty was made.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Gravity of the conduct and convictions justified striking off
- No affirmative material to show the case should be viewed differently
Mitigating factors:
- Unsatisfactory delays in bringing the matter before the Full Bench (noted but insufficient to change the outcome)
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.