Lawyer involved in divorce proceedings of client she was in a relationship with

A Lawyers Standards committee has censured a lawyer for involving herself in one of her firm's clients divorce proceedings, while also being in a relationship with the man. Photo / 123RF

A lawyer in an intimate relationship with one of her firm's clients while also involved in aspects of his divorce proceedings has been ordered to apologise to his ex-wife.

The parties were not named in a recently released Lawyers Standards Committee decision, which said the lawyer's "unwise decision-making, poor judgment, and inappropriate actions" was "unprofessional and risked damaging the reputation of the legal profession".

As well as ordering her to apologise, the committee censured the lawyer, fined her $1500, and ordered her to pay costs of $1000.

Deciding on the penalties, the committee noted the lawyer was relatively inexperienced and could have benefited from closer supervision.

Although not directly involved in her firm's handling of the couple's relationship property dispute, the lawyer was involved in peripheral matters, which she argued were unrelated to regulated legal services.

The committee accepted that might have been true of some of the matters but not all of them.

The client's ex-wife complained about the lawyer's involvement in several aspects of the proceedings, including the lawyer serving dissolution papers on her at her workplace, which was distressing and embarrassing, the ex-wife said.

The lawyer argued she did so in her personal capacity but the committee considered it was nevertheless "inappropriate and unprofessional".

Anyone who was aware she was a lawyer and of her relationship with her firm's client, would have seen it as a breach of conduct and client care rules, the committee said.

The client's ex-wife also complained that the lawyer was recorded as the vendor's lawyer on an agreement to sell the family home and opened a file for the sale.

She did this without checking her firm acted for both parties or that the woman wanted her representation.

The lawyer said she did not put her name on the agreement herself. She said the client's ex-wife initially agreed via text message to her ex-husband that she could act for them in the sale of their house.

Nevertheless, even though the lawyer did not ultimately act on the sale, the committee found she had gone too far without confirming the ex-wife's consent.

In circumstances where the lawyer knew the joint parties were estranged and particularly where the lawyer was in a close personal relationship with one of the joint parties, it was inappropriate and unprofessional for the lawyer to have opened the joint client matter before being absolutely sure the ex-wife wanted to instruct her, the committee said. A prudent lawyer would have checked.

The lawyer also drew up an agreement for the sale of disputed relationship property, completed the sale and held the proceeds in the firm's trust account – all without the consent of the client's ex-wife.

In fact, she undertook the sale personally as an appointed attorney for the client, the committee said. While there was nothing technically or legally wrong with that, it was nevertheless, "In the circumstances ... another misguided decision by (the lawyer) that could be considered unacceptable conduct by a lawyer", the committee said.