‘Wrong advice’ that landed Tony Mokbel’s ex Danielle McGuire in court

Controversial lawyer Pat Lennon has been slammed for giving “troubling” advice to Tony Mokbel’s former girlfriend.

Tony Mokbel’s ex Danielle McGuire leaves the Melbourne Magistrate's Court after facing deception charges over stolen goods. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Controversial lawyer Pat Lennon gave jailed crime kingpin Tony Mokbel’s former girlfriend “plainly wrong advice” that triggered an $800,000 court judgment against the woman’s daughter, a court has found.

Mr Lennon, who left Australia after News Corp reported on his activities in December and is yet to return, represented Danielle McGuire and her daughter, Brittany, in a dispute with the builder of a backpacker’s hostel in Melbourne bayside suburb St Kilda.

During the case, he incorrectly told Danielle she did not need to file documents with the Victorian County Court on behalf of her daughter’s company, Punt Road Hostel, by a deadline of March 30, 2021.

Because she missed the deadline the court ordered the company to pay the builder, Robert Pavlovic, $800,000 – a ruling Danielle said she only learned of when she read a newspaper article about it.

Danielle McGuire was given “wrong advice” by lawyer Pat Lennon.

In a previously unreported judgment, County Court judge Edward Woodward reversed the earlier ruling and slammed Mr Lennon for giving “troubling” advice to Danielle.

Mr Lennon’s advice that the documents did not need to be filed by the deadline was “at least highly misleading, and also conveys a general sense of lack of urgency about taking steps to respond to court deadlines,” Judge Woodward said in the June 10, 2021 judgment.

The judge said Danielle “understood the urgency and importance of the 30 March 2021 deadline, and it was reasonable for her to take Mr Lennon’s plainly wrong advice about this at face value”.

In text messages before the court, Danielle pressed Mr Lennon to act but he complained that she was “stressing him”.

The judge criticised Mr Lennon’s “complete failure to follow-up on the text exchange, until he was once again pressed by Danielle to do so”.

He ordered a retrial of the case. It was settled out of court in October 2021.

His ruling adds to four other cases, previously reported by News Corp, in which judges have criticised the behaviour of Mr Lennon, whose previous clients have included underworld figure Mick Gatto and jockey Danny Nikolic, or his wife Jane Lennon, who is also a lawyer and runs high-interest loan company Argyle Lending.

The Lennons are currently under investigation by the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, Fiona McLeay, who has issued a rare appeal for the public to come forward with information about them.

Separately, police have charged Mr Lennon with possession of 11 grams of ice and drug-driving offences, which he has indicated he will fight.

This week, he appeared in court in an unrelated case by videolink, beamed in from what appeared to be a villa with a thatched hut in a tropical location.

“For reasons that are personal, I left Australia shortly after Christmas and am yet to return,” he said.

He said he planned to return on February 22.

In an earlier court appearance from what appeared to be the same location, Mr Lennon staved off bankruptcy proceedings brought against him by two barristers who claimed to be owed $54,000 in unpaid fees.

However, disgraced former barrister Alan Sandbach, who a tribunal found guilty of professional misconduct in December, sought to continue the case amid claims of being owed about $100,000 for work done for Mr Lennon.

On Thursday, the Federal Circuit Court set the matter down for a hearing in May.

Mr Lennon responded to News Corp’s questions with a two-word email: “Ur funny.”

A spokesperson for the Legal Services Commissioner declined to comment. Danielle McGuire did not respond to requests for comment.

Originally published as ‘Wrong advice’ that landed Tony Mokbel’s ex Danielle McGuire in court