Decision record
PATRICK EDWARD MULLALLY
Allegation / charges
Struck Off the Roll of Practitioners
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Full Court of WA considered two reports from the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal finding practitioner Patrick Edward Mullally guilty of illegal conduct. The first arose from a 1994 conviction for obtaining $19,000 by false pretences (misrepresenting title to a leased road grader). The second arose from a 1999 conviction for stealing $26,678.23 in trust moneys belonging to a company in receivership, applied to his own use. The Court held both acts were inherently dishonest, causing financial loss, with the trust-money offence particularly aggravated by breach of professional and statutory duties. Finding him no longer fit and proper, the Court ordered him struck off the Roll. No mitigation was advanced. No fine or costs stated.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Two separate acts of criminal, inherently dishonest conduct causing financial loss to others
- Both convictions on indictment with significant terms of imprisonment (18 months and 2 years)
- Trust moneys held in the course of legal practice were misapplied, breaching professional and statutory obligations
- Cumulative seriousness of the two illegal acts