All three partners from the nine-strong Melbourne firm Anderson Rice have been suspended after being found guilty of professional misconduct by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Philip Barton (the firm's managing partner), Michael Coldham and Donald Brookes were accused of trying to make the firm's financials look rosier by holding onto $300,000 worth of cheques which should have been paid to third party providers, according to a New Lawyer report. According to the Legal Services Commissioner 216 cheques were withheld from barristers and expert witnesses between 2004 and 2007 in order reduce the firm's overdraft.
The dodgy doings were only discovered during a routine inspection of Anderson Rice's accounts and VCAT agreed with the LSC that if the irregularities hadn't been unearthed, the lawyers could have carried on the practice indefinitely. And along with a nine month suspension of their practising certificates, VCAT also ordered the lawyers to stump up $50,000 in costs.
According to the firm's website: "Three things make Anderson Rice truly different: our organisational structure, our culture of customer service and our world's-best-practice technology." Now they can have a fourth, a firm where none of its partners is permitted to practise.
Tip Off ROF
Philip Barton (the firm's managing partner), Michael Coldham and Donald Brookes were accused of trying to make the firm's financials look rosier by holding onto $300,000 worth of cheques which should have been paid to third party providers, according to a New Lawyer report. According to the Legal Services Commissioner 216 cheques were withheld from barristers and expert witnesses between 2004 and 2007 in order reduce the firm's overdraft.
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Anderson Rice's offices yesterday |
The dodgy doings were only discovered during a routine inspection of Anderson Rice's accounts and VCAT agreed with the LSC that if the irregularities hadn't been unearthed, the lawyers could have carried on the practice indefinitely. And along with a nine month suspension of their practising certificates, VCAT also ordered the lawyers to stump up $50,000 in costs.
According to the firm's website: "Three things make Anderson Rice truly different: our organisational structure, our culture of customer service and our world's-best-practice technology." Now they can have a fourth, a firm where none of its partners is permitted to practise.