Yarraside barristers go broke … Insouciant non-compliance … Tax man on the case … Run-ins with the stipes … Sequestration 

Alan Sandbach RFD, a member of the bar for 33 years, had a sequestration order made against his estate in July for an act of bankruptcy dated April 27, 2017.  

Alan’s history has been quite colourful. He appeared before the stipes in 2003 over allegations that he has made disparaging remarks in court against another barrister, Graham Devries.  

He claimed in County Court proceedings that Devries had made an “outrageous misrepresentation” and had stated a number of “untruths” to the court. 

Sandbach was ordered to pay a fine of $500 for each of two charges and the bar’s costs of $9022.60. 

On appeal, a panel of the Victorian Legal Profession Tribunal said it was not satisfied that Sandbach stated that Devries was lying or deliberately misrepresenting the position. 

The words were “unwise and inappropriate” and amounted to “sledging … which should not take place and reflects no credit on Mr Sandbach”. 

Consequently, there was no finding of “unsatisfactory” conduct. 

The next we heard of Sandbach was a judgment in the Federal Court from Nye Perram in May this year in a case involving the Tax Commissioner – reported by Justinian here. 

The commissioner had obtained judgment for unpaid tax and issued two bankruptcy notices, which Sandbach sought to appeal. 

The problem identified by Perram was that the barrister was repeatedly in breach of orders to file relevant parts of his appeal and outlines of his submissions. 

“He says that he had this epiphany about two weeks ago (i.e. around May 1, 2017) despite this proceeding having been on foot since February 11, 2016. He then met with a lawyer on May 4, 2017 but that lawyer did not agree to take the matter. He saw another lawyer on May 10, 2017 but that lawyer did not want the case either. By then Mr Sandbach had already failed to meet the May 5 deadline he had agreed for the service of his submissions …

All of this might sound a little precious on my part, but this most recent breach is by no means the first time that Mr Sandbach has found himself in this position. In fact, almost immediately upon commencing the appeal Mr Sandbach appears to have embarked on a program of breaking every timetabling order I have made …  

Mr Sandbach has failed repeatedly and, if I may say, insouciantly, to comply with the orders made by this court more or less since he commenced the appeal … In my opinion, Mr Sandbach has had his fair share of this court’s time … At some point there must be consequences. That point has arrived.” 

The proposed appeal looks as though it has been abandoned. 

Regardless of the act of bankruptcy and the sequestration order Sandbach is still sighted around Yarraside’s legal precinct in his robes and appearing in cases.  

He’s on the VicBar website and still has a ticket to trade.   

Matthew Stirling’s estate also has been sequested for an act of bankruptcy on March 7, 2016. 

The order was dated December 8, 2016 and the applicants include lawyers, while a bookmaker is a supporting creditor.  

The tax man had also been after him because he failed to disclose on time and pay tax on income for nine years to June 30, 2005, failed to pay provisional tax for two years to June 30, 2000 and GST for five years to June 30, 2005. 

In all he was assessed as owing $420,000 in income tax, plus $45,300 for provisional tax which together with interest and penalties ballooned to $713,812 and was still growing. 

On March 2008 he said he was insolvent and controlling trustees were appointed under the Bankruptcy Act. 

VCAT went chapter and verse into Stirling’s reporting and payment failures. Between the time he had entered into a personal insolvency agreement and the date of the tribunal hearing he had repaid $736,000. Further repayments brought the total to $1.2 million, but according to Stirling’s affidavits to the Supreme Court nearly $600,000 was still owing and there were also further delays in lodging BASs and returns.  

Stirling admitted he had an indulgent lifestyle and liked holidays, dining out and gambling. VCAT put him off the tracks for three years and placed restrictions on a future practising certificate. 

Warren CJ, Neave JA and Dixon AJA heard his appeal in September 2013 and decided that three years was too much and replaced it with a six months suspension along with a whole lot of reporting requirements.   

The court also criticised the regulator over delays: 

“In our view, for a regulator to protect the public interest, it is unacceptable that it took almost four years from the time the investigation started to the end of the tribunal hearing. The offending was disclosed to the bar ethics committee in March 2008, but the tribunal application was not initiated until March 2011. Matters of this sort should be brought to justice quickly. The failure to prosecute expeditiously is not satisfactorily explained by the appellant’s failures or delay in responding to the allegations. The respondent had sufficient facts for prosecution of the appellant long before the time at which he made its application to the tribunal.”

Stirling is still on the roll but has disappeared from the bar web site. 

And here’s Matthew talking in 2013 about problems with expert evidence …