Malcolm Rowe

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

Complainant retained Mr Rowe in 2005 to sell her sister's house under a power of attorney. He received a $3,600,000 deposit but his statement failed to account for it, having paid the complainant only $150,000 and not accounting for a $20,000 tenant payment. The panel, satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, found breaches of Canons IV(r) and VII(b)(ii) and applied the Weston v Law Society principle that where an attorney acts dishonestly with client money striking off is all but automatic. He was struck off, ordered to pay $2,263,765 restitution with 12% interest, and $30,000 costs each to complainant and Council.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to account for $3,600,000 deposit received
• Conscious and deliberate actions eroding public confidence
• Absent from both hearings despite adequate notice

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=60000"]