Mezger agreed to settle disciplinary proceedings with the Legal Practice Board and accepted a finding of professional misconduct.

The State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia said his conduct “involved a substantial failure to reach or maintain a reasonable standard of competence and diligence”.

In 2020 appeal proceedings before the Supreme Court of Western Australia, a sole practitioner, known only as Ms LP, assisted her client, who was also a lawyer, with findings he engaged in professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct.

In August 2020, Ms LP engaged a barrister who advised the client’s application “had no realistic prospects of success”. An $11,385 bill was issued but was not paid before Ms LP’s death in October 2022.

When her widower reached out two months later, Mezger said the client had no intention of paying and alleged Ms LP engaged a barrister to “get out of a jam with respect to their negligent conduct”.

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Mezger also alleged the opinion was “rushed, incoherent, wrong in fact and law, and without support from any reliable evidence”.

According to a document attached to the tribunal’s judgment, this conduct would reasonably be regarded as “disgraceful or dishonourable by practitioners of good repute and competence”.

After an investigator sent Mezger a notice requiring him to set out the specific factual and legal basis for the allegations, Mezger responded by claiming it “appeared to be directed at the evidence and submissions that would normally be led/made at a SAT hearing”.

Mezger added that it was his intention to apply to set aside the notice. In April 2023, he filed an application for judicial review with the Supreme Court seeking a writ of certiorari.

In May 2023, Mezger’s representation wrote to the board to inform them Mezger accepted that he should have “stepped back” from the dispute between the client and the deceased lawyer, but that he still considered there existed “sufficient reliable evidence”.

The representation added that Mezger would attend to the notice within 14 days, but this step was not taken within that time frame. In that time, Mezger had resigned as director and principal of Chapmans.

By statutory declaration provided to the investigator in early July, Mezger said he wished to provide his condolences to Ms LP’s family and apologise for the emotional distress caused to her widower.

The judicial review proceedings were dismissed with consent.

The tribunal found this conduct would also be regarded as disgraceful and dishonourable and fell short of the standard of professional conduct held by members of the profession of good repute.

The case: Legal Practice Board and Mezger [2024] VR 43