Unsatisfactory conduct: Fined for tardy file release
This is a summary of a decision by a Lawyers Standards Committee under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. This summary was published in LawTalk 782, 7 October 2011.
A Lawyers Standards Committee fined a lawyer $500 and ordered him to pay $500 compensation to his former client after taking four months to provide her with her files.
The committee also ordered the lawyer to apologise to the former client in writing.
The lawyer had initially acted for the client in a family law matter.
The client instructed new lawyers on 14 June 2010, and they made a first written request for her files three days later. The new lawyers made further written requests on 15 and 30 July. They followed up by telephone on 26 August and were told the files would be provided as soon as possible.
By 10 September, however, when the client lodged her complaint with the Law Society, she had still not received them. The lawyer finally provided the files on 14 October, apologising to the new lawyers.
The lawyer acknowledged to the committee that the files should have been sent and that he had breached the Conduct and Client Care Rules. These state that when a client has changed lawyers, “[t]he former lawyer must act upon any written request to uplift documents without undue delay subject only to any lien that the former lawyer may claim” (Rule 4.4.1). The Rules continue that, subject to any lien, “the interests of the client must be foremost in facilitating the transfer of the client’s documents and records” (Rule 4.4.4).
The committee found that the lawyer had breached Rule 4.4.1 and was guilty of unsatisfactory conduct. It also reprimanded him and ordered him to pay $250 costs to the Law Society.