Fusanobu Hiro SANO

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

Solicitor Fusanobu Hiro Sano falsely certified as a witness the signatures of two clients as guarantors on a lease document in April 2008 when he had not seen them sign. He admitted the charge and it was agreed to amount to professional misconduct. The Tribunal, deciding on the papers, imposed a public reprimand, a $4,000 pecuniary penalty and costs fixed at $2,500. Although the conduct was described as dishonourable, no express finding of dishonesty was made and the offending did not involve personal benefit or unfitness to practise.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Seriousness of false witnessing by a lawyer, going to the integrity of the legal system

Mitigating factors:

• No prior disciplinary findings
• Full cooperation with the Law Society, Commissioner and Tribunal
• Early admission of responsibility
• Genuine remorse and insight
• Isolated event
• No attempt to obtain a personal benefit