Sydney lawyer overcharged elderly woman $137,543
Sydney lawyer Victor Berger has been struck off the roll of solicitors, after it was revealed that he overcharged a frail, elderly client $137,545 for “non-legal” work.
Months before the woman passed way, Mr Berger sent her family a whopping $176,800 bill, with most of the charges coming from personal phone calls to the woman to check on her health, her relationships with her children and housework.
This case is among more than 70 complaints against Mr Berger, which saw the Civil and Administrative Tribunal order his removal from the roll of local lawyers last week.
The tribunal found him guilty of a wide range of misconducts, including overcharging, misappropriating funds and failing to properly disclose costs.
"The clients who were found to be victims of the practitioner's misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct were not Rabbis; they were not members of parliament, judges, senior counsel or prominent members of the community," the tribunal's judgment said.
"Some of them were old; some were frail; some had cognitive decline; and some lacked the support of family and friends.
"The tribunal has concluded that the professional misconduct and the unsatisfactory professional conduct were aspects of the practitioner's behaviour that he concealed from most of the people he mixed with in the community and in his charitable, professional and religious activities."
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