Michelle Cherie Harrington

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

Michelle Cherie Harrington, sole principal of Harrington Legal, faced seven charges relating to poor trust account management over several years, failure to have trust records externally examined, breach of practising certificate conditions, and repeated failures to respond to regulatory requirements. The Tribunal found professional misconduct on Charges 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, and unsatisfactory professional conduct on Charges 4 and 5. No dishonesty was found and she was not deemed unfit to practise. Given her personal health issues, early admissions and remorse, she was publicly reprimanded, prohibited from obtaining a principal certificate for two years after an employee certificate, subjected to educational and psychological conditions, and ordered to pay standard costs.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Hold a current practising certificate
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Substantial and consistent failure to maintain trust account over several years
• Repeated disregard of obligations to respond to regulatory authorities
• Failure to provide requested material contravening s 544(4) LPA

Mitigating factors:

• Early admission of charges and cooperation via Statement of Agreed Facts
• Demonstrated insight, remorse and contrition
• Significant personal and family health issues (severe stress, anxiety, depression) at time of offending
• No longer practising and no intention to return; new stable career
• Attending to own mental health needs
• Not found to be unfit to practise