Robin Carl TAMPOE

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

Robin Carl Tampoe, principal solicitor at Hoolihans Lawyers acting in connection with Schapelle Corby's Indonesian drug case, faced two charges. Charge 1 (professional misconduct): he breached his duty of confidentiality by disclosing confidential client information about past criminal convictions in the Corby family on the Channel 9 'Sunday' program on 26 June 2005. Charge 2 (unsatisfactory professional conduct): he made scandalous and offensive statements in a documentary broadcast in June 2008, calling the Corby family 'trash' and suggesting a defence lawyer's role is to invent and withdraw defences. He accepted both charges. The Tribunal found he was not suitable to be a legal practitioner and recommended his name be removed from the roll, ordering him to pay costs of $2,500. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Breach of confidentiality was made on a national television program (described as an egregious breach)
• Comments suggested a criminal defence lawyer's role is to make up and take away defences, likely to cause public to lose confidence in the legal profession and criminal justice system
• Scandalous and offensive comments about his client and her family

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent accepted the charges as particularised
• Claimed he was under a mistaken belief Mr Bakir was his client
• Claimed he believed the information was public knowledge
• Claimed he was caught at an inopportune time and regretted the comments, not appreciating their implications