Michael Vincent TWOHILL

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

The respondent solicitor admitted misdealing with trust moneys in breach of trust and in contravention of section 8 of the Trust Accounts Act 1973. Over the period August 2001 to February 2003, he made six unauthorised transfers totalling $11,586.25 from his trust account (holding $44,166.87 for the Cottrells) into his general account, ostensibly to discharge his client's costs liability. The deficiency came to light when the Family Court ordered distribution, and the client subsequently restored the amount. The Tribunal found this constituted professional misconduct (a substantial departure from expected standards), but no dishonesty was found and no client suffered loss. He was fined $5,000 payable to the Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund, ordered to complete the QLS trust accounts module, and to pay costs.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Six unauthorised withdrawals totalling over $11,000 from a fund of approximately $44,000
• Serious departure from standards expected of conscientious practitioners
• Practitioner of considerable experience (admitted 1983)
• Sacrosanct character of trust account moneys

Mitigating factors:

• No client defrauded and no one left out of pocket
• Deficiency was rectified by the client
• Admitted the breaches and expressed remorse
• First disciplinary action in a long career
• No other trust account irregularities before or since
• Supportive references
• Amounts drawn were sums to which he was otherwise entitled for costs