John William TOWERS

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

John William Towers, a 48-year-old solicitor who had ceased practising due to ill health (depression), admitted twelve charges including grossly excessive charging while acting as attorney for an incapacitated client (Mr White), improperly withdrawing $154,347.32 of the Roche clients' trust funds and failing to provide an itemised bill for four years, and numerous trust account breaches. Charges 1 and 4 were found to be professional misconduct; the remaining trust breaches were unsatisfactory professional conduct. The Tribunal expressly found no dishonesty. It ordered his name removed from the roll, ordered him to pay $8,788.82 compensation to Mr White under s289(1) LPA, and to pay the applicant's costs (to be assessed if not agreed). A compensation claim by Mrs Roche for $4,659.89 was refused as the causal connection was broken.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Exploitation of a vulnerable, incapacitated client for personal gain
• Charging professional rates for non-professional activities
• Repeated and persistent failure to adhere to professional standards
• Cavalier treatment of the Roche clients' affairs and prolonged (four-year) failure to provide an itemised bill

Mitigating factors:

• No dishonesty involved in the trust account breaches
• No financial loss to most clients (funds redeposited/clients agreed)
• Respondent suffered depression diagnosed in 2001 and had ceased practising
• Admitted the charges and had himself sought removal from the roll
• Some breaches attributed to clerical error and supported by trust account auditor advice