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A Victorian solicitor has been granted until June 2021 to practice before he must cease completely after a tribunal found he had engaged in professional misconduct.
In his first disciplinary hearing in 44 years, sole practitioner Sergio Guerra was ordered to close his trust account and cease practicing in June 2021 after a tribunal found that he had engaged in professional misconduct in two separate complaints.
In the first complaint, Mr Guerra was found to have failed to inform his client of a critical hearing in his matter and organise representation. He also failed to respond to serious communication on behalf of his client over the course of his 12-month retainer.
Mr Guerra told the tribunal he was reluctant to represent this client as he typically did not engage in family law matters but the client was the son of an old, deceased friend. Mr Guerra informed the client he would not charge him, and he never did.
The tribunal found it was a “significant failing” to discharge his obligations to his client, with adverse consequences: “The nature of this failure is such that it clearly amounts to a substantial failure to reach or maintain reasonable standards of competence.”
In the second complaint, the tribunal found that Mr Guerra was tasked with the equal split of an estate between two daughters. A final order was made in October 2013 but his failure to respond to correspondence from the opposing solicitor meant the matter dragged on until September 2016. In June 2016, he also failed to pay relevant monies.
The tribunal found that he had failed to respond to correspondence from the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, a failing that also constituted professional misconduct.
“It is important for effective operation of regulatory systems that practitioners respond within a specified period to such statutory information requests,” the tribunal wrote in its judgement. “If they do not respond promptly, the regime for the protection of public through the investigation of potentially harmful conduct is adversely affected.”
This case can be found on Austlii: Victorian Legal Services Commissioner v Guerra (Legal Practice) [2020] VCAT 947
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Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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