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Misappropriation Case: Law Society v Peter

The document summarizes a case involving a young attorney, Ms. Peter, who misappropriated client funds from her trust account. She had opened her own practice without capital or clients, and her income was insufficient to cover basic living expenses. In a desperate situation, she took money from the trust account. The Law Society argued she was unfit to practice law. However, the court suspended her license for 3 years, finding a long suspension would impress upon her the seriousness of her lapse in judgment and ensure it did not recur, given her honesty and integrity are fundamental as an attorney.

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Letlhogonolo Molokomme Mokhuse
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168 views2 pages

Misappropriation Case: Law Society v Peter

The document summarizes a case involving a young attorney, Ms. Peter, who misappropriated client funds from her trust account. She had opened her own practice without capital or clients, and her income was insufficient to cover basic living expenses. In a desperate situation, she took money from the trust account. The Law Society argued she was unfit to practice law. However, the court suspended her license for 3 years, finding a long suspension would impress upon her the seriousness of her lapse in judgment and ensure it did not recur, given her honesty and integrity are fundamental as an attorney.

Uploaded by

Letlhogonolo Molokomme Mokhuse
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

LEHLOGONOLO MOLOKOMME

PALIMRA PIO

Case Note for The Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope v Peter 2009 (2) SA 18 (SCA)
Facts:
The respondent, Ms Peter,has an LLB degree and a Diploma in Legal Practice; she
served articles for a period of a year and later on was employed as a paralegal.
She opened a practice as a sole practitioner in a building occupied by a union; she had
no capital at the time to begin her own legal practice and no clients.
Her income was insufficient to meet her basic needs; she found herself in a desperate
situation and decided to use the money in the trust fund to pay her outstanding
expenses.
One of the respondents clients complained to the Law Society that they had not
received the full amount from their trust fund.
The respondent pleaded guilty to professional misconduct that she has used her
clients aforementioned balance.
The appellant, The Law Society, requested the High Court for an order to strike off
the respondents name off from the roll of attorneys on the grounds of
misappropriation of trust fund money.

Issues:
The appellant viewed the respondent as not fit and proper person to continue
practising as an attorney.
The respondents clients were not paying her.
Her income was insufficient to meet basic needs and she decided to use trust fund
money to pays for her basic needs.
The respondent stated she had intentioned to replace all the money she took from the
trust fund.

Respondents argument:
She was very young when she used her clients money inappropriately, around 28
years old.
She had never been exposed to conventional law firm practice, so she knew nothing
about bookkeeping, management or the practical aspects of running a law practice.
This does not excuse her from her misconduct but it explains how she could have
landed in that desperate situation.
She did not use the money for personal luxuries but used it to pay basic expenses.
She deeply regretted what she did and attempted suicide because she was depressed
due to her wrongful actions.

Appellants argument:
The appellants president, Mr Taswell Papier, submitted in his affidavit that the
respondent had manifested character defects that showed that she was not fit and
proper to continue practising as an attorney.
The fact that the respondent succumbed to the pressure of her situation leas to the
conclusion that she is not fit and proper.

Judgement:
The court ordered that the respondent be suspendered from practising law for three
years as after a period of time of that suspension that will bring how serious her lapse
in judgement to home, it is unlikely the lapse will recur.
The judge stated that honest and integrity are fundamental to the functions of an
attorney.

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