A lawyer from Victoria has been banned from practicing until 2020 for grossly overcharging clients.
Sole practitioner Jan Horak billed clients up to $395 an hour for tasks including reading text messages and checking his online bank account. He billed clients $6.58 a minute for simple tasks, such as receiving cheques in the post and leaving voicemails and once billed for a phone call to tell his client that his fax machine was out of paper.
Horak, whose practising certificate has been cancelled twice before, pleaded guilty to seven charges of professional misconduct and one charge of unsatisfactory conduct at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
VCAT member, Elisabeth Wentworth said that Horak has “no knowledge or understanding of the proper basis on which professional time can and should be charged to a client”.
According to the Herald Sun Horak is appealing the decision.
Tip Off ROF
Sole practitioner Jan Horak billed clients up to $395 an hour for tasks including reading text messages and checking his online bank account. He billed clients $6.58 a minute for simple tasks, such as receiving cheques in the post and leaving voicemails and once billed for a phone call to tell his client that his fax machine was out of paper.
 |
Spotting a cloud which looks like a client's pet = $1200 |
Horak, whose practising certificate has been cancelled twice before, pleaded guilty to seven charges of professional misconduct and one charge of unsatisfactory conduct at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
VCAT member, Elisabeth Wentworth said that Horak has “no knowledge or understanding of the proper basis on which professional time can and should be charged to a client”.
According to the Herald Sun Horak is appealing the decision.