WA Family Lawyer: Overcharging and Record Keeping Errors
Tuesday 21 July 2015 @ 12.38 p.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure
In two judgments delivered on 13 July 2015 in the WA Supreme Court, a WA Family lawyer has been found guilty of overcharging and keeping inadequate time records and fined $100,000 to repay to the client as a result.
Background to the Case
In the case of LM v K Lawyers [2015] WASC 244, and its subsequent appeal in LM v K Lawyers [No 2] [2015] WASC 245, The lawyer, identified only as Mr K, represented the client, Mr M, in family law proceedings between November 2008 and April 2010.
Decision in Case
Mr K charged the client more than $330,000, for what Supreme Court registrar Christopher Boyle found was excessive, technically deficient and inappropriate work. Registrar Boyle expressed concern about the records produced by the lawyer to show the work he had done. He found he seemed to have spent an excessive amount of time doing work of an administrative or clerical nature, while charging $270 an hour. Registrar Boyle described one charge, for "research", as disturbing and extraordinary and also noted that in some instances the lawyer charged for up to 20 hours of work in a day.
The judgment by Registrar Boyle also states Mr K was not an accredited family lawyer and should have engaged specialist counsel. In addition, as Mr K is a sole practitioner, Registrar Boyle found he frequently charged for work that “did not require the skill of a lawyer”.
Nonetheless, the judgment noted that the conduct of Mr M’s wife and lawyers significantly increased costs, with little attempt made to resolve disputes out of court. Overall, the former couple accumulated legal fees of more than $1.1 million, which the Family Court judge who heard the case described as “staggering” and “totally disproportionate to the pool of assets”.
Registrar Boyle also said it was clear Mr K was out of his depth and floundered in the task of identifying and presenting relevant evidence.
The registrar ruled the fees should be reduced to $220,000 because, in his view, a competent and properly resourced practitioner could have done what was needed for no more than that amount.
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Sources:
LM v K Lawyers [2015] WASC 244
LM v K Lawyers [No 2] [2015] WASC 245
