Free Flight To Misery

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au

(This article first ran in The Gold Coast Bulletin.)

Eight years ago Robert and Karen Leonforte flew from outback Western Australia for a quick visit to the Gold Coast. They arrived at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, 16 May 1998. Next day they inspected half a dozen investment properties, then went to the Bundall offices of Lehns Solicitors where they signed up to buy a unit in Hansford Road Coombabah for $139,500.00. The solicitor, waiting to unlock his office that Sunday afternoon was John Campbell MacCallum. He advised on the contract and happily agreed to look after this couple’s conveyancing.

Many years later the Queensland Law Society released a recent Solicitors Complaints Tribunal decision which found MacCallum guilty of unprofessional conduct when he acted for those trusting clients in what the Society described as “a property marketeering transaction.”

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