ABC News Australia reports
A fake Gold Coast lawyer, who allegedly lost more than $430,000 in clients’ money, has been banned from managing a legal practice and is being investigated by police.
Key points:
- Gold Coast woman Nerise Dawn Moore will have to pay the Legal Services Commissioner’s costs after being banned from running a law firm
- The Queensland Supreme Court found she held herself out to be a lawyer but was not qualified
- More than $430,000 is missing from the trust account of her former Mudgeeraba law firm, Stenton and Moore
Nerise Dawn Moore, who formerly operated the Mudgeeraba law firm known as Stenton and Moore, has been disqualified by the Queensland Supreme Court from managing a corporation that is a legal practice.
Last week’s judgment came after court action was brought by the Legal Services Commissioner against the woman for pretending to be a lawyer for about four years.
Moore, a former president of the Mudgeeraba Chamber of Commerce, came to the attention of the Queensland Law Society two years ago.
Mixed with politicians
Moore is pictured in social media posts with a number of Australian politicians, including with former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2015, and federal Member for McPherson Karen Andrews in 2016.
Moore had been operating the legal practice on the Gold Coast since 2014, initially with Graham Stenton, who was a lawyer.
Moore held herself out to the “executive officer” of the company and after Mr Stenton left the firm in 2018, she called herself a “legal practitioner director” — despite not being a lawyer.
The judgment published on Friday said Moore had, since 2014, provided legal advice to clients “whilst holding herself out to be a qualified solicitor”.
Issued fake grant of probate
Moore worked alone for most of this time, but in 2018 she falsely “engineered” a scheme to claim well-known Gold Coast solicitor Blake Fraser was the legal practice director of the firm, the judgment said.
Mr Fraser told the ABC he had no idea that Moore had claimed he worked with her and had no knowledge of being “appointed” as the firm’s legal practice director between June and August 2018.
Later, Moore provided a client with grant of probate, but never made an application in court.
“The copy of the probate document provided by Ms Moore to her clients appears to have been fabricated using a previous grant of probate issued … for a completely unrelated estate,” Justice Martin Burns said.
More at
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/nerise-dawn-moore-fake-lawyer-banned/100601320
