Owen Kirkwood Clunie

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

The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council found attorney Owen Clunie in breach of Canons I(b) and VII(b), expressly finding he had acted dishonestly by misappropriating a client's $600,000 deposit, and struck him off the roll while ordering restitution of $700,000 with interest and $20,000 costs. On appeal, the Court of Appeal held the findings of misconduct stood (irregularities in service having been waived when the attorney attended through counsel and admitted the facts), but ruled the Committee breached natural justice by imposing sanction without giving the attorney an opportunity to be heard in mitigation. The appeal was allowed in part: the sanction was quashed and remitted to the panel to hear mitigation and determine a sanction. No allegation of bias was made out. The appellant was awarded half his costs.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Misappropriation of client's $600,000 deposit intended for a property purchase
• Client lost the property purchase and suffered serious hardship
• Repeated broken promises to repay the money

Mitigating factors:

• Subsequent repayment of $762,000 (full deposit plus expenses, interest and costs) after the hearings
• Attorney attended the second sitting with counsel and did not dispute the facts