A former principal of a Queensland law firm has been found guilty of professional misconduct after failing to comply with an undertaking given to the Legal Services Commission.
Mitchell Cavanagh, the former principal of Cavanagh Gillies Lawyers and later an employed solicitor at Legal Aid Queensland, was found by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal to have engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct.
The finding follows his breach of an undertaking he had given to the state’s legal watchdog, the Legal Services Commission (LSC).
In its penalty decision, the tribunal ordered the Queensland lawyer to be publicly reprimanded, pay a pecuniary penalty of $2,500, and cover the Legal Services Commission’s costs incidental to the disciplinary application.
The disciplinary proceedings began after Cavanagh came under investigation in 2021 following a complaint concerning his conduct and representation in a domestic and family violence protection matter.
In May 2022, the LSC gave Cavanagh the opportunity to make submissions on whether the investigation should be dismissed or if disciplinary proceedings should be launched under the Legal Profession Act.
Later that month, he submitted his response concerning the issues raised in the complaint and offered to provide an undertaking.
To resolve the complaint, the LSC proposed that Cavanagh give a personal undertaking.
In October 2022, he agreed to complete two professional development courses – the Queensland Law Society’s Ethics Referral Course and the Safe and Equal Family Violence Foundation’s online program – within 12 months, and to provide the LSC with “documentary evidence” of completion.
In giving the undertaking, Cavanagh acknowledged that he was aware that failing to comply could amount to professional misconduct.
However, he did not complete either course by the agreed deadline. The LSC had to send a reminder to him in early December regarding the conditions of the undertaking.
Cavanagh eventually provided evidence of completing the family violence program in December 2023, and the rthics referral course in March 2024 – five months past the deadline.
During the proceedings, Cavanagh admitted the charge and acknowledged that his non-compliance fell short of the standards expected of a legal practitioner.
Justice Williams – assisted by Petrina Macpherson, a special counsel at MinterEllison, and Keith Revell, a QCAT member – concluded that Cavanagh’s conduct amounted to professional misconduct and was a “substantial failure to reach or maintain a reasonable standard of competence and diligence”.
While the maximum penalty for such conduct under the Legal Profession Act is $100,000, Justice Williams said the tribunal took into account several mitigating and aggravating factors.
These included Cavanagh’s admission of the facts underlying the charge, the personal issues he was facing at the time, and the fact that he had not previously breached an undertaking in his 25-year career.
