Ipswich lawyer Bradley Munt struck off by QCAT for unauthorised withdrawals of clients’ trust money
A principal lawyer at a southeast Queensland firm has been barred from practice after a Queensland tribunal found he engaged in professional misconduct, in an “embarrassing” end to his 30-year legal career.
Police & Courts
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An Ipswich lawyer has been struck off the roll for misconduct after a Queensland tribunal found he had “dramatically” overcharged a client and made unauthorised withdrawals of others’ trust money.
Bradley Munt was formerly a sole practitioner and the principal of the law practice Bradley Munt & Co in Redbank Plains.
Mr Munt had been a practising lawyer for more than 30 years, but was barred last Thursday, December 21, from practising by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Mr Munt faced 31 charges before the tribunal, which was ultimately satisfied that each of the 31 charges had been proven.
Two charges related to Mr Munt charging excessive legal costs — including “dramatically” overcharging one client by invoicing $18,175 for a matter in which the itemised costs only amounted to $4,425.70.
He had also charged the same client $6,750.00 plus GST, totalling $7,507.50, on a different occasion for services amounting to $4,425.70.
Mr Munt submitted to the tribunal he had made a “serious miscalculation”.
He said this was the result of him “assessing the time and value [of work undertaken since the last invoice] based on [his] experience”.
Eleven of the charges related to Mr Munt’s failure to make costs disclosures — three of which involved Mr Munt invoicing clients for a higher price than what he previously assured them his services would cost.
The remaining clients involved in those charges couldn’t remember Mr Munt ever providing them with an overall fees estimate, the court documents revealed.
Another 11 charges related to Mr Munt withdrawing funds from the Bradley Munt & Co trust account without his clients’ authority to do so.
The tribunal found he had withdrawn a total $46,241 from clients without their knowledge over an eight-year period from 2012 to 2020.
His affected clients gave evidence that they did not receive invoices from Mr Munt prior to the money being withdrawn.
In some cases, they said they received no invoice at all.
The court documents note Mr Munt didn’t dispute he had raised invoices for legal costs and withdrew corresponding amounts from the firm’s trust account.
He also accepted he had no costs agreement with his clients, but submitted it was “his belief at the time of the relevant withdrawals that the invoices had been delivered”.
The Legal Services Commissioner submitted that Mr Munt — who did not appear at his hearing — was purposefully dishonest, motivated by a desire to gain an advantage over his clients.
The Commissioner further suggested he had been operating a “scheme” to ensure timely payment of invoices and avoid delay or scrutiny of invoices by clients.
But the tribunal was not satisfied Mr Munt was dishonest in this way.
It nonetheless found Mr Munt had “grossly failed to exercise due diligence in the management of his files” along with not following necessary procedures when withdrawing money from trust accounts.
“The respondent’s conduct can only be regarded as reckless and a serious breach of one of his core obligations as a legal practitioner,” the presiding Justice Sue Brown stated.
Justice Brown found Mr Munt had also failed to provide an itemised bill to clients when requested on two occasions, that he failed to deposit $591.16 in trust money on one occasion, and that he also failed to comply with a notice issued by the Commissioner on one occasion.
He had also failed on three occasions to comply with notices issued by the Legal Services Commission.
Mr Munt stated in an affidavit before the tribunal that the proceedings had caused him “great stress, shame and embarrassment”.
“He has reflected on the proceedings and recognised he was treading water trying to practise in total chaos and is upset his otherwise unblemished career has ended as it has,” the court documents state.
“He wants some time away from practising law and has no intention of practising again or being a principal, partner or director of a practice.”
The tribunal concluded that Mr Munt had failed to understand the “most basic but critically important obligations of a solicitor to a client”.
“While the respondent attributes his conduct to professional and personal stressors, they demonstrate a lack of insight into the primary obligations of a legal practitioner and lack of prioritisation and do not explain, let alone excuse, the level of failure of the respondent over an extended period of time,” said Justice Brown.
“The professional misconduct engaged in by the respondent demonstrates that he is permanently unfit to engage in legal practice and that public protection and confidence require the removal of the respondent’s name from the roll.”
Mr Munt was reprimanded for professional misconduct and ordered to pay legal costs for the Legal Service Commission.
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