Barrett Anthony WHERRY

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

Solicitor Barrett Anthony Wherry was convicted in 2007 of forging a document with intent to defraud, having forged a trust account authority purportedly signed by his client to justify withdrawals from trust and mislead her new solicitors and the Law Society. He also breached s 8 of the Trust Accounts Act by making payments without authority. The Tribunal found professional misconduct and expressly regarded his conduct as dishonest. Given the seriousness and lack of confidence the public could be protected, the Tribunal recommended removal from the local roll and ordered him to pay the Commissioner's costs. An application for the complainant's costs was not pursued/refused.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Forged a trust account authority purporting to be signed by his client
• Continued to urge the document's genuineness after it was challenged, misleading the new solicitors and the Law Society
• Failed to appear or place any material before the Tribunal

Mitigating factors:

• Demonstrated genuine remorse by pleading guilty in the Magistrates Court
• Not shown he was not entitled to the fees withdrawn