JOHN HENRY REYBURN

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

The State Administrative Tribunal found legal practitioner John Henry Reyburn guilty of professional misconduct (failing to maintain reasonable competence and diligence in a will/estate matter) and unsatisfactory professional conduct (failing to respond to Supreme Court correspondence). The parties agreed findings and largely agreed penalty. The contested issue was whether a condition should preclude him from all Family Provision Act work. The Tribunal declined a blanket condition but imposed a condition requiring him to brief counsel in contested FP Act proceedings. He was reprimanded twice, ordered to pay $19,182.11 compensation to the client, a $2,000 fine, and $8,000 costs, with conditions on his practising certificate. No dishonesty was found.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct related to significant estate with residuary beneficiary client at risk of costs
• Failure to advise client and respond to siblings' correspondence over an extended period
• FP Act incompetence was a significant and essential part of the misconduct

Mitigating factors:

• Misconduct occurred in context of matter with which practitioner was unfamiliar (contested probate involving two wills)
• Positive character references including from senior counsel about his competence in settlement advice
• Admissions and agreement on findings and penalty
• History of assisting elderly and disadvantaged members of the community