A Perth lawyer, Steven Raymond Fidock, has been suspended from practising for two years after the State Administrative Tribunal found him guilty of professional and unsatisfactory misconduct in handling clients' financial affairs.
The Legal Profession Complaints Committee brought the case against Fidock. The tribunal fined him $3,000, ordered that he be supervised for a year upon returning to practice, and required him to pay $25,000 toward the committee's costs.
However, the tribunal rejected the committee's request to recommend that Fidock be struck off the roll of practitioners. It stated that while his conduct fell significantly below required standards, it was not deliberately dishonest or misleading.
The tribunal noted that Fidock had prospects of regaining the essential qualities needed for a legal practitioner. The misconduct involved his representation of a married couple, Nazzareno and Stanislawa Argentieri, in arranging their affairs to prevent claims against the wife's estate.
The tribunal found that Fidock swore misleading affidavits and recklessly used money to buy a property for the husband's estate. It also determined he had a conflict of interest between his personal benefit as a beneficiary of the deceased client's estate and his fiduciary duties to the wife, who was also his client.
