MARK TERENCE TROWELL

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

Mark Terence Trowell QC, a Perth criminal law Queen's Counsel, was asked by the Commonwealth Attorney General on a pro bono basis to assist Schapelle Corby, an Australian imprisoned in Bali. The State Administrative Tribunal found that from 6 June 2005, when Trowell met Ms Corby in prison, she became his client. Over the following 11 days he made five disclosures to the media concerning her appeal, including revealing an alleged bribery proposal by a member of her Bali legal team, disclosing confidential information and making statements without her informed consent. The Tribunal found this constituted unprofessional conduct, rejecting his defences. It expressly declined to find dishonesty, attributing his evidentiary inconsistencies to reconstruction rather than deliberate dishonesty. On penalty, the Tribunal declined the LPCC's request for a fine and instead reprimanded the practitioner, citing the unusual circumstances, his prior good character, numerous references and the unlikelihood of reoffending. He was ordered to pay costs of $55,000 (agreed by consent).

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Disclose material information to client

Aggravating factors:

• Client (Ms Corby) was in an extraordinarily vulnerable position, imprisoned in Bali facing a lengthy sentence and pursuing an appeal
• Disclosures were made to the press, giving them maximum impact
• Conduct was motivated in part by the practitioner's personal dispute with Mr Rasiah and by promoting himself in the media
• Five separate disclosures made over about 11 days
• Practitioner's seniority as Queen's Counsel (though Tribunal declined to treat this as automatically requiring a harsher penalty)

Mitigating factors:

• No finding of dishonesty or intention to cause the client detriment
• Unusual circumstances - approached by the Australian Government pro bono, no instructing solicitors, client in a foreign jurisdiction, extraordinary publicity
• Practitioner did not believe Ms Corby was his client
• Practitioner received no financial benefit and bore his own costs travelling to Bali
• Previous good character - 48 references attesting to high standing in the profession and community
• Diminished need for general and specific deterrence; unlikely to reoffend
• Expressed sincere regret (through counsel) for failing to recognise Ms Corby as his client
• Stress and public humiliation already suffered through the proceedings