A hearing panel of the Law Society Tribunal has ordered that Victoria lawyer Rosario Canteno Di Bella be suspended for four months, starting on January 1, 2022.
The panel found that Di Bella committed professional misconduct in respect of a client, by failing to deliver the quality of service expected of a competent lawyer when he did not attend to matters within a reasonable period of time, did not keep the client reasonably informed, failed to meet deadlines set out in a court order, and did not answer requests for information from the client. In dealing with the same client, Di Bella also misrepresented that he ordered a wills search, failed to answer communications promptly on numerous occasions, and failed to facilitate transfer of the client’s matter to another lawyer.
The Law Society had asked the panel to apply a condition that prohibits Di Bella from practising in the areas of wills and estates until the condition is removed by the Discipline Committee, which the panel rejected on the basis that Di Bella’s primary area of legal practice is in wills and estates, and a prohibition from practising in that area would be equal to a de facto disbarment.
In imposing the four-month suspension, the panel considered the serious nature of Di Bella’s misconduct, his repetitive, prolonged and unexplained delays, as well as his professional conduct record, which included a conduct review, a practice standards referral, a practice limitation, a previous citation and three administrative suspensions, two of which were in effect at the time of the decision.
The panel’s decision on facts and determination is available here and the decision on disciplinary action is available here.
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