Decision record

Mahony, John Francis Thomas

JurisdictionAustralia — New South Wales

BodyOffice of the Legal Services Commissioner (NSW) (OLSC)

Professionsolicitor — Mahony Law

Date24-Jul-2025

HearingCouncil of the Law Society of New South Wales

OutcomeFine Lawyer to undertake and complete further ethics education Reprimand Within three (3) months from notification of the Committee’s determination, the Respondent Solicitor provide a written apology to the Complainant in a form approved by the Director, Legal Regulation (s299(1)(c) of the Legal Profession Uniform Law) $10,000.00 About About the OLSC The Commissioner History Mission statement Structure Contact Contact the OLSC Give us your feedback: online surveys Access to information (GIPAA) Community information Information for lawyers Fact sheets FAQs Other regulatory and complaint-handling organisations Contact LawAccess NSW for legal information " You and Your Lawyer", Hot Topics 78 Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC), State Library of NSW , provides access to information about the law in NSW regarding your lawyer Privacy Copyright and Disclaimer Website accessibility

Allegation / charges

Allegation 1: The Respondent Solicitor did not properly account for monies received on trust on behalf of the Complainant Allegation 2: The Respondent Solicitor failed to provide a costs agreement and/or costs disclosure(s) to the Complainant in breach of section 309 of the Legal Profession Act 2004 Allegation 3: The Respondent Solicitor breached section 261(b) of the Legal Profession Act 2004 by withdrawing trust funds for the payment of legal costs incurred in representing the Complainant Allegation 4: The Respondent Solicitor borrowed funds from the Complainant, a client — Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct

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

SanctionOther

Dishonesty foundNo

The respondent solicitor was found to have engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct arising from four matters: failing to properly account for trust monies held on behalf of the complainant; failing to provide a costs agreement or costs disclosures contrary to section 309 of the Legal Profession Act 2004; breaching section 261(b) by withdrawing trust funds to pay legal costs; and borrowing funds from a client. No express finding of dishonesty and no specific sanction details are recorded in the provided text.

Duties found breached:

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["extracted_from_register_summary"]

Duties engaged

Other decisions involving this respondent

Decision 2023-05-18 · OLSC · Australia — New South Wales · Reprimand Solicitor to undertake and complete further legal…
[2017] NSWCATOD 1 2017-01-04 · OLSC · Australia — New South Wales · Costs Fine Reprimand $4,000.00

Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.

Documents

No documents recorded.

Source: https://portal.olsc.nsw.gov.au/dasearchbn/daresultdetail/?id=e4cd4936-7d30-4d75-85a6-f420b5d9d7c3