Mr Thong Sum LEE

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

The practitioner, acting as solicitor for a vendor in a conveyancing transaction in which he was also an agent's representative, arranged for the deduction of $4,537.50 in disputed agent's commission for himself from the settlement monies without his client's authority and without advising the client of the implications, placing the client in breach of its agency agreement. The Tribunal found this constituted professional misconduct (Count 1) but expressly found no dishonesty or deceit was involved. The Tribunal held the practitioner was a fit and proper person and declined to impose practising-certificate restrictions, instead imposing a public reprimand, a $10,000 fine, and costs. Count 2 (misleading advertising claiming to be a licensed real estate agent) was dismissed as the error was inadvertent and trivial.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Previous disciplinary history: professional misconduct (1995, admonished); unprofessional conduct (1999, fined $750); breach of duty to client and court and overcharging (2000); professional misconduct for breach of undertaking with four-month suspension (2001)
• Manipulated the settlement to confer a financial benefit on himself
• Potential for detriment to the client if the agent had sought recovery of commission from the client

Mitigating factors:

• No dishonesty or deceit involved
• Suffering serious ill-health and possibly stress at the relevant time, which may have impaired his judgement
• Immediately admitted fault and showed genuine remorse
• Unlikely to offend again
• Offered an undertaking not to act as solicitor and agent in the same transaction
• Practised for nearly ten years without incident after his earlier suspension
• Client appears to have suffered no actual detriment