The law firm alleges that $175,000 of client money was deposited into the pair’s bank accounts.
A well-known Queensland lawyer and his mistress law clerk have been fired after allegedly stealing about $175,000 from their law firm.
Filings by Bosscher Lawyers to the Supreme Court on Monday detail how Tim Meehan and his law clerk Xanthe Larcombe-Weate allegedly schemed and successfully diverted money from clients into their own bank accounts, a report from The Courier-Mail revealed.
This morning, Supreme Court Justice Boddice granted the law firm’s request to freeze Meehan’s assets citing the nature of the allegations and the “limited number of assets” available.
The law firm wants to freeze assets belonging to Meehan and his wife including a Pullenvale house, two BMWs and a Mazda CX9.
The law firm said it found out that $164,000 of client money had been deposited to bank accounts associated with Meehan over the past year while $11,000 went to Larcombe-Weate’s account.
Meehan, who represented Brett Peter Cowan who killed Daniel Morcombe in one of Queensland’s most infamous trials, and Larcombe-Weate were fired on August 16 and the lawyer’s details have also been removed from the law society’s public online register.
According to The Courier-Mail, the law firm’s investigators are said to have easily found evidence of the pair’s alleged misdeeds.
Apart from detailing how money would be obtained from clients, text messages between the two include sexually explicit content including planning secret liaisons in the lawyer’s office during office hours.
The lawyer would also sometimes be abusive to his law clerk if she did not work fast enough, the text messages are said to reveal.
According to the evidence, clients are said to have been instructed to deposit money into the lawyer’s account in the pretence that the law firm has changed bank accounts.
At other times, the pair would allegedly organise late-night drops or leave money under keyboards in the law firm premises.
At one time, the account of the lawyer’s unsuspecting wife was even used to keep money reportedly stolen from clients.
Meehan, who joined the law firm in 2000, is said to have surrendered his practicing certificate and has reportedly “admitted to stealing from the practice,” according to the law firm’s filing.
Larcombe-Weate is said to have recently completed her law degree and planned to be admitted as a practicing lawyer this October.
According to The Courier-Mail, the pair could be charged with aggravated fraud by the Queensland Police Service.
The Legal Services Commission, the Legal Practitioners Admission Board and the Queensland Law Society could also take action.
The next court schedule for the case is September 16. Meehan reportedly did not appear in court today.
