It's a pity he was allowed to continue practising after being censured in 2001. But that's hindsight, and I suppose we must give people a second chance.
How bad was Mathias? From that Herald article:
The charges admitted by Mathias included:Jesus. Was the any rule of professional conduct he did follow?
- Acting when he had a conflict of interest;
- Not acting as an independent legal adviser;
- Charging for work that was not done;
- Deducting money from funds held in trust without authority;
- Using clients' funds;
- Allowing his trust account to be overdrawn five times;
- Misleading clients about a transaction, and
- Using his trust account for personal transactions.
I suspect the fallout from the various finance and property company collapses will see a number of law firms consulting their insurance policies. The domestic conveyancing/financing legal market has always been cut-throat, and there have always been a few lawyers prepared to look the other way or take shortcuts in return for a steady stream of work.
At least one of them is history.
I understand that he also used the fact that his Sister is Petra Mathias to gain peoples trust...
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