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A Queensland lawyer accused of abandoning his practice and clients, which left some unable to access their own money, has been recommended for removal from the local roll.
Justice Paul Freeburn of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) recommended Braden Rodway Smith, a commercial lawyer from Smith Law Group, be removed from the local roll.
Despite having received notice in July 2021 that his application to renew his practising certificate was refused, Smith advised two clients on conveyancing matters over the following week.
Along with practitioner panel member Petrina MacPherson and lay panel member Dr Julian Lamont, Justice Freeburn said Smith’s decision to continue practising within a week of receiving notice he could not “can be described as disgraceful or dishonourable”.
With respect to the first client, Smith liaised with him on conveyancing documents, was likely involved with the following settlement, and received around $43,600 on his behalf.
Until a text message sent on 2 August, Smith failed to respond to the first client’s queries about the settlement funds. That text claimed Smith was sick and the money “went into our trust for some reason”.
A message sent 10 days later read: “Sorry [client]. Let me see what the hell is going on with the bank … I’ll come back to you.”
As for the second client, Smith assisted with the settlement of a property, received the settlement sum of $526,514 on her behalf, and then disbursed just over $511,000 from his trust account.
Following this, new solicitors for the client complained that Smith had failed to lodge the stamped transfer for registration, meaning the property remained in the name of the sellers.
About eight months later, the committee with the Queensland Law Society discovered Smith’s trust account remained open and contained a credit balance of just under $92,000.
Smith had not made arrangements for the completion of his retainer by both clients, including payment to the first client of the settlement proceeds and the lodgement of forms and documents.
“In short, what Smith did was to walk out of his practice without looking back,” Justice Freeburn said.
“His conduct in doing so meant that his clients, including [the first client], were kept out of money that was rightfully theirs.
“Despite retaining a solicitor, [the second client] purchased a property without obtaining proper title. And the receivers were put to time and effort in unravelling the mess.”
Following a review of Smith’s trust account, the receivers found 15 client matters in respect of which a $100,920 sum should have been held; two matters that recorded overdrawn trust balances of $3,534; and eight transactions totalling $5,750 between the trust and general account that were not allocated to an identifiable client matter.
At the date of the review, the total deficiency was $3,720.
While they were not large sums, Justice Freeburn said Smith left the receivers “to sort out the mess involving numerous discrepancies”.
Justice Freeburn said there was also a “strangeness” to Smith’s conduct beyond acting without a practising certificate.
“If he had continued to act and had properly protected his clients’ interests, then the only disciplinary breach (albeit a serious one) would have been to practise as a solicitor without a practising certificate,” Justice Freeburn said in his written reasons.
“But Smith continued to practice without certification and then abandoned his clients.”
There was also a charge of failing to give the Law Society copies of external examination reports, and a charge of failing, neglecting and/or refusing to cooperate with the regulator.
Smith was found to have engaged in both professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct.
In addition to the recommendation that his name be removed, QCAT ordered Smith to pay costs on a standard basis as if the matter were heard before the Queensland Supreme Court.
Citation: Legal Services Commissioner v Smith [2026] QCAT 267.
