STEPHEN JOHN BROWNE

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

The Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee alleged that solicitor Stephen Browne's personal injury advertisements breached s 17 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA) and were misleading as to costs. The Tribunal held it had jurisdiction (s 17(3)) but found the advertisements did NOT breach s 17, as they were expressly directed to persons who had already made a claim. The words 'your first consultation is free' were not misleading. However, the words 'no compensation = no legal fees' in the September 2003 newspaper and 2003/2004 Yellow Pages advertisements were misleading, since the public could think they had no liability for any fees or costs (including disbursements and adverse party costs). This amounted to unprofessional conduct. No dishonesty was found. Penalty was reserved for a further hearing.

Duties found breached:

• Truthful, non-misleading advertising

Mitigating factors:

• Took advice of three counsel (including eminent senior counsel) before placing advertisements
• Had regard to the Law Society guidelines and sought to meet concerns
• Responded appropriately when concerns were raised by the Committee
• Later adopted a policy to pay disbursements/adverse costs himself where they exceeded compensation