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Reprimand handed down to solicitor over ‘egregious’ mistake
A solicitor found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct for an unintentional but “egregious” mistake has received a reprimand and a costs order.
Naomi Neilson
Following a finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct in July of this year, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) has handed down disciplinary orders to solicitor Jim Kekatos for misleading the NSW Land and Property Information (LPI).
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The Council of the Law Society of NSW alleged that Mr Kekatos misled LPI by seeking the removal of two caveats registered on a property in Greater Sydney. Mr Kekatos attached an unrelated judgment made in August 2015, but the caveats were removed from the registrar as requested by him a month later.
The Law Society claimed that Mr Kekatos “knew or ought to have known the orders did not relate” and accused him of acting “deliberately or recklessly”. However, NCAT, which said it could not be comfortably satisfied that it was intentional, accepted Mr Kekatos evidence that he “made a mistake, albeit an egregious one”.
Given that his finding was downgraded to unsatisfactory professional conduct from professional misconduct, the Law Society accepted that it would not be appropriate for Mr Kekatos to pay a substantial fine and instead requested a reprimand and a costs order. Mr Kekatos was unsuccessful in removing the costs order request.
“As the Law Society submitted, the issuing of a public reprimand not only demonstrates our disapprobation of Mr Kekatos’ conduct, but it is also intended to deter him and other members of the profession from acting in a similar manner.
“Solicitors, in their dealings with third parties, especially when those parties are public entities such as LPI, must be very careful to ensure that they do not inadvertently make misleading representations,” NCAT found.
The judgment can be found on AustLII and JADE: Council of the Law Society of NSW v Kekatos [2021] NSWCATOD 196 (3 December 2021)
