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Queensland barrister guilty of professional misconduct, no longer practicing family law

Details: Category: Uncategorised; Created: Sunday, 10 May 2020 19:51; Written by Alecomm2

Queensland barrister guilty of professional misconduct, no longer practicing family law

By Naomi Neilson|25 September 2019

A Gold Coast barrister will no longer practice family law and was ordered to complete 12 months of readership after being found guilty of professional misconduct.

Patricia Merkin has been publicly reprimanded and ordered to pay applicant’s costs to the discipline application after she persistently pursued empty appeals in Full Family Court and refused to admit any professional lapses until the last minute.

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal noted: “The conduct under each of the charges was not a momentary fleeting lapse of judgement. Rather, in each case, it involved a wilful and persistent course of action by the respondent which was inimical to the respondent’s paramount duty to the administration of justice.”

During an appeal against final parenting orders, Ms Merkin insisted a written transcript of the hearing did not accurately reflect an incident during the hearing and concluded an audio recording had been tampered with, going so far as to blame the trial judge.

Despite her client listening to the audio and ascertaining there was no issue found in the written transcript, Ms Merkin pursued the argument and filed for appeal.

The Full Family Court said: “The particular concern that we have about the conduct of Ms Merkin is despite the mother in effect no longer pursuing the claim the transcript had been edited or amended, her counsel pursued both claims, and most troubling, has suggested that the trial judge may have been involved in this.”

When the Bar Association of Queensland investigated the behaviour, Ms Merkin said the unfounded tampering is “a matter of great and critical importance” and it was her duty to raise it. She went so far as to characterise herself as a “whistleblower”.

Under cross-examination before the Tribunal, Ms Merkin maintained there was never any professional lapse on her part. She maintained this innocence until the end.

“It was only in the course of closing submissions, after counsel for the Law Services Commission (LSC) had addressed the Tribunal, that the penny seemed to drop with the respondent that her conduct in these matters had involved a serious departure from the standards expected of counsel,” the Tribunal said in their decision.

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Queensland barrister guilty of professional misconduct, no longer practicing family law

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