VIJITHA GAMINI DE ALWIS

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

The WA Full Court dealt with the Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee's referral to strike off practitioner Vijitha Gamini De Alwis, along with his late application for extension of time to appeal the Tribunal's decision, a stay application and an application to disqualify Pullin JA for apprehended bias. The Tribunal had found that the practitioner, retained to resist a client's deportation for a fixed fee of $10,000, received $10,900 from/on behalf of the client, never paid any of it into his trust account, kept no proper accounts, and had fraudulently converted the money to his own use, doing minimal work. The Court dismissed the disqualification application (no reasonable apprehension of bias), refused the extension of time (delay of 2.5 years unexplained, grounds without merit), and found the practitioner unfit to remain on the roll due to serious breaches of trust obligations, compounded by his conduct in the proceedings. He was struck off and ordered to pay costs to be taxed.

Duties found breached:

• Continuity and handover of representation
• Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Continued to assert he had done nothing wrong and was entitled to the money
• Conduct during the proceedings: repeated failures to comply with time limits and directions
• Numerous unfounded allegations of misconduct against judicial officers, practitioners and court staff
• Misleading conduct including advancing dubious explanations (e.g. the $400 counsel fee)