Shanan John Ryan RAMSDEN

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

A 29-year-old solicitor post-dated a mortgage (executed July 2002, dated 22 December 2002) to avoid a $44.85 stamp duty lodgement penalty, misled the Office of State Revenue, and delayed lodgement. The first two charges were professional misconduct and the third unsatisfactory professional conduct. Distinguishing the case from the dishonest conduct in QLS v Bax, and citing his cooperation and remorse, the Tribunal imposed a $5,000 payment to LPITAF, a public reprimand, and $2,000 costs.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Post-dating a document is a serious offence for a practitioner
• Conduct raised a query as to his fitness

Mitigating factors:

• First infraction
• Complete cooperation with the Commission and Tribunal
• Prompt and full acknowledgment of error
• Expressed remorse
• Implemented office systems to prevent recurrence
• Unlikely to commit further ethical breaches