In August 2022, while a first-year employed solicitor, Tang made the transfer and then created documents to cover his tracks, including an electronic fund transfer request that falsely recorded he telephoned the client and confirmed the bank details were correct.

Tang also sent a copy of the trust ledger to the client and lawyers for the other side, indicating the balance had been reduced to zero.

After being questioned by the firm’s director, Tang attempted to have the bank reverse the transaction, but the accounts were frozen. He also claimed a lady “who he assumed was the client” came into the office with an amended authority to change the bank details.

Six days after the transfer, Tang confessed, was summarily dismissed, and escorted from the building. The Queensland Law Society received a complaint from the director and a “self-report” from Tang.

In December 2023, Tang pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court and was convicted and sentenced to a nine-month period of imprisonment, with an order for release on parole three months later.

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Tang appealed and was released after spending 43 days in custody.

In his evidence on the disciplinary application, Tang told the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal he felt “disconnected” from his life at the time of the offending and felt depressed.

In February 2023, Tang said his partner learnt of his “high-frequency pornography use and infidelity” and he began attending fellowship meetings on a weekly basis and sought counselling.

His psychologist told him, and Tang believed it to be true, that his misconduct was “likely a result of an attempt to compulsively self-sabotage and escape from his reality and his job at the time”.

Having considered his mental health, his young age at the time of the offending, and his cooperation with the disciplinary proceedings, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal said it would not recommend Tang’s name be removed from the roll of practitioners.

“The factors … which weigh most heavily against him are that his conduct was dishonest, with some level of sophistication; and it occurred in the course of legal practice. However, they are not decisive,” said judicial member Peter Lyons KC, practitioner panel member Elizabeth Shearer, and lay panel member Dr Susan Dann.

“As the respondent’s submissions show, a number of other factors identified in that case weigh in the respondent’s favour.”

Tang was publicly reprimanded and will not be permitted to apply for a new practising certificate until September 2025. At that time, the application must be accompanied by a contemporaneous report from a psychologist or psychiatrist regarding his mental state.

The case is Legal Services Commission v Tang [2025] QCAT 82 (1 May 2025).

If you need assistance with addiction, call the National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline on 1800 250 015 for free and confidential advice.

To speak to a counsellor, call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or chat online.