You are a legal officer with the Legal Practitioners Unit of Pacifica. You have been approached by

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You are a legal officer with the Legal Practitioners Unit of Pacifica. You have been approached by Thomas Ocean, who has come to file a complaint against his lawyer and wants him investigated for unprofessional behavior. He tells you that he had engaged a lawyer for a Sale and Purchase matter a few months ago and his lawyer was Warren Tukana from the firm Invictus Lawyers. He had approached the lawyer Mr Warren Tukana as he was purchasing 5 acres freehold land at Gangam Heights in Pacifica. The land was selling for $500,000, and because it was located next to the local University and was also 5 minutes from town, Thomas was planning to build a block of flats on the property. He had already secured a loan from the bank for $1 million dollars which would cover the purchase of the land and the construction of a residential complex with 4 flats. After a positive meeting with Mr Warren Tukana at the firm, his lawyer told him he would liaise with the lawyers for the Vendor and would make sure all the paperwork was finalized, and that he would also liaise with the bank on his behalf for the finance of construction once the title of the land had been transferred to Thomas' name. As there would be bank loan agreements and construction contracts that needed to be drafted, Thomas was told the law firm could handle everything for him. Thomas was grateful for this, and told his lawyer that while the land was selling for only $500,000 it was actually worth almost $2 million due to its location. But Thomas said he knew the family who was selling the land and they just wanted a quick sale so this was why they were selling at such a low price. Fully trusting his lawyer, Thomas was quoted legal fees of $5,000 for all these legal services, and so a deposit of $2,500 was paid and an invoice and interim bill of cost was issued. He was also 2 told the whole process would take about 6mths to finalize because approval had to be sought from the Lands Department in Pacifica which often took time. After 1mth Thomas had received no updates or paperwork to sign from his lawyers regarding the land sale, so he approached the law firm to see what was going on but was told his lawyer was very busy and could not meet him. Thomas says he went another three times to the law firm over a 2mth period to try to get an update on his Sale and Purchase transaction as the bank was pushing to close the deal, but each time Thomas went to Invictus Lawyers he was told his lawyer was too busy to see him or that he had just left the office and they did not know when he would be back. Frustrated, Thomas wrote the law firm an email saying that it was now 3mths since he had paid legal fees and as he had no updates or information from his lawyer, he wanted to withdraw his instructions to the law firm and would engage another lawyer. Thomas waited a week, but when he received no reply from the law firm or his lawyer Warren Tukana he approached another law firm for help. At the law firm Genuine Lawyers, he gave his new lawyer the same instructions about the Sale and Purchase and within a week his new lawyer Daisy Rashid told him that when she did a title search at the Lands Department, she found out that the land had recently been transferred from the previous owner to a person called Mr Willie Tukana who she knew was the twin brother of Warren Tukana. Confused and frustrated, Thomas went to Invictus Lawyers to confront his previous lawyer and was again told that Warren Tukana was not available to see him. Not willing to let this go, Thomas sent a lengthy email to his former lawyer saying that he was cheated out of this lucrative real estate deal that not only saw him lose out on the property but also damaged his reputation with the bank that he had made financial arrangements with. This time Thomas got an email reply from Warren Tukana that same day saying that he was sorry the business deal did not go as planned, but that he had done his best, and could Thomas please clear the outstanding legal fees of $2,500 that was still owed. 3 In disbelief Thomas printed out the email as he was determined to sue Mr Warren Tukana and his law firm and wanted his new lawyer Daisy to read the emails. Only when he read the printed out email did he realize that within the chain of emails was a conversation between the two brothers Warren and Willie. It was clear his previous lawyer had forwarded Thomas' email to his twin brother Willie who worked at the Bank of Pacifica, and was warning him that a client may be suing him and his law firm because of the land deal which Warren had asked his brother for help with. In the emails it is clear that Warren is warning Willie that if anyone asks him for information, just to say that his lawyer is his brother and that any questions are to be directed to him. Warren is also begging Willie in the emails not to tell anyone that it was actually Warren who gave him the money to buy the land and that he asked to put his brothers name on the title. Thomas also approached the vendor who was a friend of his that lived in Australia and was selling the land on behalf of his fathers Estate. His friend told him that a lawyer called Warren had written to him saying he used to act for Thomas Ocean and his instructions were that his client could no longer purchase the property due to financial constraints. However the lawyer said he had another client who was interested in the property if the Estate was still selling at the price of $500,000. When his friend said they would still sell at that price if the deal could be done within 1 week, the lawyer sent him all the paperwork the next day via courier and he had signed the transfer papers and sent them back to Fiji. His friend sent him the email that showed the money had been deposited into his Australian bank account and the land had been transferred about 2mths ago. Thomas took all this information to Daisy, and she advised him that what Warren Tukana has done is unethical and that he should go and file an official complaint with the Legal Practitioners Unit. Daisy also suggested he may have been over-billed, as these type of conveyancing matters should only be about $800 or $1,500 at the most for the Solicitor work.

Describe the contraventions of legal ethics, identify any unethical behavior;
Identify the relevant Act, regulation, common law principle or case law that would be applicable;

USE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ACT FIJI 2009
USE CASE LAWS FROM FIJI

• Explain in your letter what charges the Chief Registrar can file and under what section of the relevant legislation can the lawyer be charged under, as well as outline what evidence will be needed to prove the case in Court.