CAROL PENN
JurisdictionAustralia — Western Australia
BodyLegal Practice Board of Western Australia (LPBWA)
Professionlawyer — PO Box 153 MIRRABOOKA WA 6941
Case numberVR 18 of 2015
Date18 December 2015
HearingState Administrative Tribunal
OutcomeProfessional Misconduct
Allegation / charges
Professional Misconduct
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
SanctionNo Order
Dishonesty foundNo
The Tribunal found that the practitioner engaged in professional misconduct by charging $69,028.89 for probate, estate administration and Supreme Court proceedings when a reasonable charge was $28,959.80, relying on expert costs evidence from Mr Forbes. The practitioner conceded overcharging even on her own figure of $51,363.28 (25.6% excess). No dishonesty finding was made. The Committee sought no penalty or costs for this ground because the penalty on grounds 1 and 3 was sufficient, given the practitioner had ceased practising and was in dire financial circumstances. No order as to costs.
Duties found breached:
Mitigating factors:
- Practitioner has ceased to practise
- Practitioner in very dire financial circumstances
- Penalty imposed on grounds 1 and 3 was sufficient in the circumstances
Duties engaged
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