George Peter Duckett White [1994] NSWLST 24

The Legal Services Tribunal of New South Wales

CITATION : George Peter Duckett White [1994] NSWLST 24 PARTIES : George Peter Duckett White FILE NUMBER(S) : of 1993 CORAM: Ms A Plotke (Presiding Member) - Mr G B Molloy - Mr P. Wolfe CATCHWORDS: Competence and diligence :- Unsatisfactory professional conduct LEGISLATION CITED: Legal Profession Act 1987 CASES CITED: In the matter of Ian Gordon Dun (1993 3 LPDR 5). ; Malfanti v Legal Profession Disciplinary Tribunal (1993) 4 LPDR DATES OF HEARING: 28 October, 1994 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 12/21/1994 LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Mr D. Hipsley (instructed by Mr G.J. Still) for the Law Society of New South Wales. Mr R.S. Cuddy of Messrs Stewart Cuddy and Mockler for the Solicitor.

JUDGMENT:

A false date was inserted into a Contract for Sale of Land and a Stamp Duty Fine was thereby avoided. The Society alleged that the solicitor intended to defraud the Office of State Revenue. The chronology of events prima facie supported that allegation. The Tribunal was of the view that the solicitor did not deliberately engage in any conduct with intent to defraud the revenue. The Tribunal was not prepared to find that the solicitor's conduct amounted to professional misconduct. The solicitor failed to find out the correct date of exchange and insert that date in the contract; he thereby failed to exercise a standard of competence and diligence that a client might expect. The solicitor's record was unblemished and his conduct in this instance was an aberration. The solicitor was reprimanded, fined $1,000.00 and ordered to pay the Society's costs.

The solicitor inserted or caused to be inserted a date on a Contract for the Sale of Land which was not the date of its exchange and which had the effect of the Office of State Revenue stamping the Contract without any fine or penalty in circumstances where, had the Contract been dated as at the date of exchange, a fine or penalty would have been payable.