Lawyer Alexander Ralston Jones seeks permanent stay in fraud case

A Queensland lawyer charged with fraud over allegations he illegally took cash payments from clients has applied for a permanent stay of the case against him.

Michael Bosscher and Alex Jones at Brisbane’s Supreme Court. File picture

A Queensland lawyer charged with fraud over allegations he illegally took cash payments from clients has applied for a permanent stay of the case against him.

Alexander Ralston Jones was one of four employees of the Brisbane-based Bosscher Lawyers hit with criminal charges after a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into the firm’s finances.

Jones, 37, was charged alongside his former boss, high-profile lawyer Michael Bosscher, 54, in 2017.

The pair are due to face an eight-week trial in the Brisbane District Court starting in September.

At a pre-trial hearing for Jones on Wednesday, the court heard Mr Bosscher’s wife Alison had been the firm’s director during the alleged offending period between 2011 and 2016.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by her.

Defence barrister Saul Holt KC, acting for Jones, submitted the alleged practice of not depositing trust fund cash paid by clients into the firm’s accounts occurred “with the consent of the legal practice director”.

“The idea effectively is I can’t defraud you by taking your property if you your honour says I can take the property,” Mr Holt said.

“Our primary submission is that on any reading of the statute and without in any way creating a situation which derogates from the purpose or functionality of that statutory regime, Mr Jones owed no such obligation to Bosscher Lawyers to deal with that trust money in any particular way.

“Indeed the legislative regime is quite specifically designed to ensure those obligations are placed on the legal practice director….”

Crown Prosecutor Greg Cummings opposed the stay application, arguing: “ … even if Mrs Bosscher gave consent, it would be an offence to deal with the funds in that fashion …”

“The Legal Practices Act sets up a framework in which one person is primarily responsible for the running of an incorporated legal firm but that person doesn’t have sole responsibility,” Mr Cummings said.

“She does have responsibility for management, she does have responsibility as the practice manager director of ensuring systems are in place that ensure other practitioners employed conduct themselves properly, but that doesn’t mean that those who work within the firm such as an associate such as Mr Jones have no responsibility.”

Mr Cummings submitted Mr Jones had a responsibility when he received trust money “and thereafter any dealing with it inconsistent with the Bosscher Lawyer’s obligations was dishonest by the ordinary standards of the community”.

“This is in the context that Mr Jones deliberately chose to receive the money, it’s not as if he has just happened upon it,” Mr Cummings said.

“He is a sworn officer of the court who receives trust money on behalf of the incorporated body Bosscher Lawyers.

“In my submission there’s a very clear inference on the legislation that he owed a duty at the very least to see that the money was handled properly.”

Timothy Meehan, another lawyer who worked at the firm was jailed in 2017 for his part in the alleged fraud and has given evidence against his former boss and colleagues.

Law clerk Thomas William Strofield pleaded guilty to misappropriating more than $10,000 from the firm as part of the alleged scheme and was sentenced to 18 months’ probation in 2021.

Judge William Everson has reserved his decision on the stay application.