JOHN HENRY REYBURN

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

The State Administrative Tribunal (WA) found solicitor John Henry Reyburn guilty of unprofessional conduct on two counts arising from selling a settlement agency business to Ms Perich, an unlicensed person, under an arrangement whereby she paid a 'licensee fee' to use Mandurah Investments Pty Ltd's licence. The Tribunal found the contract inevitably led to breaches of ss 26 and 40(3) of the Settlement Agents Act 1981, and that Reyburn gave grossly negligent legal advice on which Ms Perich reasonably relied, in circumstances of conflicting financial interest and without advising her to seek independent advice. The Tribunal expressly found the advice was NOT deliberately misleading (no dishonesty found). Penalty was deferred to a separate hearing; no sanction, fine or costs were ordered in this decision.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Honour professional undertakings

Aggravating factors:

• Advice induced Ms Perich to enter a contract in which the practitioner had a personal financial interest
• Substantial monetary benefit to the practitioner from the arrangement
• Conflict of interest between practitioner and Ms Perich
• Failure to recommend independent legal advice

Mitigating factors:

• Tribunal found the advice was not deliberately misleading
• Agreement was not a sham; practitioner did provide some supervision
• Ms Perich did not intend to mislead anyone as to ownership/management