Court documents reveal the lawyer’s chaotic world

Although Molina and Zhai won their wrongful dismissal case and Galloway paid the couple a total of $65,000 in August 2022, Galloway failed to settle their entire claim. Further lawsuits in Sydney federal court in November resulted in further fines against Galloway. He now owes more than $40,000 to Molina, $12,000 to Zhai and around $20,000 in legal fees.

His practice manager, who has worked for him since 2011, told the court that Galloway failed to pay staff salaries on time in the run-up to her dismissal in March 2020, as well as other business expenses such as legal fees. Fees. She said Galloway’s customers often paid in cash and at times kept up to $80,000 in cash in the office safe. Molina said she was concerned Galloway would spend his clients’ money on his own wedding in March 2020.

Vice President Easton acknowledged that Galloway’s accounting system was in a “mess” and that Galloway had twice been found to have unsatisfactory conduct in relation to cash transactions and other financial matters.

Molina also told the court about a confrontation with Galloway in July 2019, when she said, “I can’t believe you’re back on drugs.” You need help once and for all, Brett — you’re an addict. I’ve seen your bank records and your personal expenses – I’ll do the bookkeeping, remember. Let’s go outside and talk, we need to work this out.”

Galloway claimed that Zhai was rude to him during a trial, but Zhai said Galloway “repeatedly fell asleep during the trial” and that he had to nudge him under the bar table to wake him up.

Galloway did not appear at last November’s hearing but later attempted to reopen the matter, claiming that over the past year he has suffered from “poor physical, mental and emotional health” resulting from the “loss of…” To make matters worse, he had two family pets” and a failed reconciliation with his wife of two years.

To support his claims, he submitted a medical report from his family doctor, Dr. Joe Grech, before. The herald previously announced that the well-known eastern suburbs doctor had been suspended for six months in 2021 for a variety of offenses, including providing false and misleading information to the Medical Association and possession of methamphetamine (ice).

Grech was arrested in April 2018 after police searched his car, a Jaguar with license plate 01DUDE. After unlocking a silver case, they found 1.19 grams of ice and an assortment of glass pipes. He told police, “I take full responsibility for this” and “it’s crystal meth.”

In 2019, Grech was found guilty of possessing ice and the equipment to administer a banned drug. He received an 18-month conditional release order after the district court accepted his explanation that the drug and equipment belonged to someone else.

That someone else was both Grech’s girlfriend and his patient, a fact he caught lying to the medical board.

That same year, Galloway managed to have the drug abuse charges against him dropped. In September 2018, Galloway was charged after a saliva test returned a positive result for ice cream. Police recorded Galloway crossing a stop sign in Paddington after exiting a “known drug depot”.

The charges were dismissed after Galloway argued that traces of the drug could have entered his body after drinking tea and smoking a cigarette given to him by his client, who was on bail for the delivery of ice cream.

For nearly two decades, police have received continuous information suggesting that Grech was involved in drug trafficking and possession, and provided false medical certificates in exchange for cocaine, heroin and ice cream.

The explosive allegations were contained in a lengthy police dossier filed in the 2020 criminal case against one of Grech’s patients, now-incarcerated criminal defense attorney Michael Croke.

According to the filed intelligence report, Grech was a known associate of Galloway, “a criminal defense attorney accused of regular use of a prohibited drug, namely ice cream.”

The Deputy Commissioner said Grech’s report and that of psychologist Tim Watson-Munro had “little probative value” as they were based on what Galloway told them. In his report, Watson-Munro said his friend “experienced intermittent avoidance responses to his anxiety, which provides an explanation for his tardiness/inability to open emails and comply with his legal obligations.”

The well-known psychologist had previously been expelled for several years after pleading guilty to cocaine use and possession. “He led a double life for a number of years that not only deceived his profession, colleagues, clients and family, but also involved persistent and serious ethical impropriety,” Victoria’s Psychologists Registration Board found in 2002 .

In a recent scathing ruling, Federal Court Judge Sophie Given dismissed Galloway’s attempt to reopen the matter.

She said that despite his evidence that he “was unable to attend to even the simplest of tasks, like opening his emails,” Galloway believed he “had an ostrich attitude on the matter and stuck his head in the proverbial sand”. ” and that he had hoped that by paying some but not all of his employees’ claims he would not have to pay more and that the matter would resolve itself.

She also said society had a right to be concerned that Galloway, who claimed to be “so mentally ill that he was unable to take care of himself, continued to practice law”.

Galloway has yet to pay his employees full entitlements and, to add to his financial woes, he is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings from BMW Finance.

He was also found guilty of professional conduct in October 2021 for failing to pay an attorney who represented him in the matter.

Galloway didn’t reply heralds emails. Although his website reads: “Have you been arrested? “Call Brett now,” the number was disconnected.

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