Robin Tampoe -- One Time Corby Lawyer -- Struck Off

This is Schapelle Corby related news. However, the main subject of this little post is Robin Tampoe; a one-time lawyer for Schapelle Corby.

Robin Tampoe (photo courtesy of here) became involved in the Corby case very early on. He provided pretty bad advice, in my opinion, because his own ego required that he piggy back on this case in order to make a name for himself by using someone else's legal predicament to further his career. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, this has backfired in a big way and has in fact ended his legal career as he has been struck off the role of legal practitioners.

The advice was indicative of someone not knowing the intricacies of the Indonesian legal system and also highlighted a substantial lack of understanding of the substantive law that applies in Indonesia. In this sense, the writing was on the wall for Corby as soon as Tampoe became involved. However, the advice is not the reason for his striking off, but rather his conduct as a lawyer and handling of client information.

It was certainly a Forrest Gump kind of a moment in the type "stupid is as stupid does". Simply, Tampoe came into possession of confidential information which he then divulged to the world on TV. This information related to prior criminal convictions among members of the family. After being dumped from the Corby legal team he then went on to add insult to injury by disparaging them in the documentary, "Schapelle Corby - The Hidden Truth", by calling the family "trash".

The Legal Services Commissioner initiated the action based on an allegation that Tampoe breached client confidentiality. In essence, he failed to uphold the lawyer - client privilege that certain communications are subject to. In a written judgment of Justice Roslyn Atkinson of the Queensland Legal Practice Tribunal, Tampoe was found guilty of professional misconduct. Atkinson then ordered that Tampoe be struck off the roll.

On a side note. It is interesting to see that in the current Manohara case two of Indonesia's senior lawyers, Todung Mulya Lubis and OC Kaligis, have left the legal teams of Prince Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry and Manohara Odelia Pinot respectively, and then gone on to make some disparaging remarks about their former clients relating to their respective intents to resolve that matter. I wonder, any ethics or professional misconduct issues there?

The Keddies Bill

Here is part of the Keddies bill for services rendered. It can be found here in full. The head shot is that of the founding partner Russell Keddie.

Keddies Lawyers -- An Update

Today's Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the allegations against Keddies Lawyers for professional misconduct, which includes falsifying documents and overcharging, is drawing many past clients out of the proverbial woodwork and many of these former clients consider themselves to be victims and have supporting evidence to "prove" their claims.

The claims of the clients will still have to go through the mill so to speak. It must be noted that none of the allegations are yet to be proven against Keddies. Nevertheless, the most recent former client to come out of the woodwork, Ms. Hsu Li Ching (photo), who has stated unequivocally that she was asked to sign forms that included blank spaces for compensation amounts to be claimed and paid as well as blank spaces for dates and other important information.

Ms. Hsu has received compensation cheques totalling some AUD 130,000 but she is unsure whether this represents the total amount awarded or it is the amount she receives after Keddies fees and expenses are deducted. I would be guessing this is the net amount after fees and other expenses have been deducted as a final bill was never sent to her with respect to the payout or the fees deducted.

The longer this goes on and the more digging that gets done the more horror stories emerge. Another former Keddies client received less than a third of her AUD 150,000 payout after Keddies fees and expenses were deducted. The client in this case was a Ms. Cissy Chen who after suffering her compensation claimable accident returned to Beijing. Keddies sent its then Chinese Liaison Officer to Beijing to get signatures on documents and Ms. Chen was one of the clients that were alleged to have signed documents.

It must be noted that the Chinese Liaison Officer in this instance is an Australian Citizen, Mr. Lee Sheng. Mr. Lee is now involved in a legal dispute with Keddies as he has since been dismissed from his Keddies employment. However, the signature of Mr. Lee appears on the forms supposedly signed by Ms. Chen but unfortunately when the dates signed are compared to Mr. Lee's passport one finds that Mr. Lee was not even in Beijing on those dates.

In conjunction with the earlier post it is clear that a pattern of overcharging is emerging. It is going to be interesting to see how Keddies justifies fees that are regularly taking upwards of 65% of the compensation payments awarded to Keddies clients.

I guess the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner still has some work to do yet in order to finalize the complaints against Keddies Lawyers and particularly the claim by Russell Keddie that his firm has never demanded that clients sign forms with blank spaces.

Watch this space...