JOHN HENRY REYBURN

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

The State Administrative Tribunal (WA) found legal practitioner John Henry Reyburn guilty of professional misconduct (failure to maintain a reasonable standard of competence and diligence in a contested probate/deceased estate matter) and unsatisfactory professional conduct (failing to respond to Supreme Court correspondence). Findings and most penalties were agreed. No finding of dishonesty was made. For the professional misconduct the practitioner was reprimanded, had conditions imposed on his practising certificate, and was ordered to refund AUD 19,182.11 to the client. For the unsatisfactory professional conduct he was reprimanded and fined AUD 2,000. He was ordered to pay costs of AUD 8,000. The contested issue was whether a further condition should preclude him from all Family Provision Act work; the Tribunal declined a blanket ban, instead imposing a condition that he not accept instructions in contested Family Provision Act proceedings unless instructed to brief counsel to advise and appear.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct spanned a lengthy period (April 2008 to April 2010)
• Numerous conceded particulars of incompetence, including failure to advise on settlement, failure to keep client informed, failure to provide counsel with adequate instructions and medical evidence
• Client suffered financial detriment given limited size of estate and costs borne by estate

Mitigating factors:

• Admissions and agreed statement of facts; settlement of matter
• Misconduct occurred in an area (contested probate involving two wills) with which practitioner was unfamiliar and had no prior experience
• Positive character references, including from senior counsel (Daryl Williams QC and Elspeth Hensler) affirming competence in Family Provision Act settlement matters
• Long history of assisting elderly and disadvantaged members of the Mandurah community, including free legal advice