SIMON ALEXANDER HOLME

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

Simon Alexander Holme, principal of an Esperance legal practice, was found guilty of professional misconduct for receiving and retaining trust account interest for his own benefit over more than four years, which the Tribunal found involved dishonest conduct. He also admitted three counts of unsatisfactory professional conduct (failing to pay employee superannuation and lodge statements, failing to remit PAYG withholding amounts, and failing to secure client documents during winding up). The Tribunal declined to recommend striking off, taking into account his serious mental health issues and financial pressure. It ordered that no practising certificate be granted for two years, with a supervision condition on any future certificate, and ordered costs of $10,000.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct occurred regularly every month over more than four years
• Practitioner enriched himself with funds he knew were paid in breach of statutory obligations
• Practitioner used the trust interest to keep his practice financially afloat

Mitigating factors:

• Suffering from major depressive and anxiety disorders at relevant time (partial explanation)
• Under extreme financial pressure and overwhelmed by acquisition/operation of practice
• Conceded unsatisfactory professional conduct on complaints B, C and D
• Cooperation via consent orders
• Currently unemployed and an undischarged bankrupt (relevant to costs)

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_suspension_months=24"]