Catherine KINCAID

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

Ms Kincaid, a Gold Coast family law solicitor, advised a client (a company bookkeeper) who had misappropriated $45,000 from her former partner's company to withdraw the remaining company funds and hold them until the de facto property matter reached court, rather than advising her to return the money. The client withdrew a further $26,500 acting on this advice. The company sued and the funds were repaid; the client was later charged with fraud. Ms Kincaid ultimately conceded her conduct was professional misconduct. The Tribunal found professional misconduct but no dishonesty (she did not realise her advice encouraged crime). She was publicly reprimanded, fined $10,000, ordered to pay $2,000 costs, and subject to supervision and further legal education conditions if she returns to practice.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• No improper use of client money
• Competence
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Advice encouraged the client to commit further criminal offences
• Conduct had potentially serious consequences for the client and others

Mitigating factors:

• Took steps to obtain proper advice for client after court proceedings commenced
• No previous adverse disciplinary findings
• Co-operated with the investigation and did not contest primary facts
• Did not realise her advice amounted to encouragement to crime