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Barrister guilty of professional misconduct for emailing threats to clients
A barrister has been found guilty of professional misconduct after sending intimidating and threatening emails to his clients over outstanding fees.
Naomi Neilson
Geoffrey David McDonald was found guilty before the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of NSW and ordered to make a formal apology to applicant Saso Colevski and brother Robert. He has also been ordered to pay the Colevski’s costs.
“[Practitioners] must have regard to the consequences of actions taken by them and to the appropriate means by which members of the profession may seek to recover payment. We are therefore of the view that reprimands are appropriate in this case.”
In March 2013, Mr McDonald was retained by the Colevskis to advise and commence proceedings against AAMI on behalf of the brothers’ tyre franchise. Mr Saso Colevski was charged $40,000 for Mr McDonald’s work, but failed to make this payment.
As a result, Mr McDonald refused to hand over files that would aid the Colevskis in an ongoing litigation. In June 2014, Mr McDonald sent an email to the brothers with the subject line “see what happens if you don’t pay your bills” and a body that included a link to a newspaper article about the murder of John Gasovski.
Mr Gasovski was an associate of Mr Saso Colevski and had previously been retained by Mr McDonald to settle Mr Gasovski’s owing of $1 million to creditors.
“Mr McDonald admitted the words in the subject heading of the email made light of the death of a person known personally to the sender,” the Tribunal noted.
“The respondent failed to give proper consideration to the effect or possible effect of the email on the recipient or that Mr Saso Colevski could have felt intimidated.”
In another email, Mr McDonald again asked for payment before he would release the files. By this stage, he had become aware that Mr Saso Colevski had raised the idea of making a complaint to police and professional bodies regarding the conduct of Mr McDonald, particularly his threatening email and his holding on to a file.
In response to this, Mr McDonald wrote to the brothers’ new solicitor Steve Rogers to request the payment and proposed an agreement.
The email read: “Finally, the clients and their directors agree that, while retaining the rights to have the fees assessed, there is no reason to file any complaint regarding any conduct of Simon nor (sic) me and therefore they agree not to do so.”
In another instance, Mr McDonald received an unsolicited Notice of Listing from NSW Supreme Court in respect of the AAMI litigation. He forwarded this to the Colevskis and said: “Gents, you are going to have trouble dealing with this without the files”.
"We are of the view that the conduct referred to [in this Tribunal] identifies conduct which means that the respondent engaged in professional misconduct within the meaning of s 497 of the act and will make orders accordingly," the Tribunal noted.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
