Stephen Warne on professional negligence, regulation and discipline around the world

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Entries Tagged as 'regulators' duties'

Zarah wins

July 29th, 2008 · No Comments

Ms Garde-Wilson's back in business. In fact she never went out of business, since following the non-renewal of her practising certificate, she held a deemed practising certificate pursuant to the Legal Profession Act, 2004, s. 2.4.5(3) pending her VCAT merits review application. The assertion that she had ceased to be a fit and [...]

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Tags: Criminal liability · Practising certificates · Professional regulation · regulators' duties

More cases

May 30th, 2008 · No Comments

I only just caught up with the fact that the Court of Appeal has overturned Justice Gillard's decision in Kabourakis v Medical Board of Victoria [2005] VSC 493, the subject of an earlier post. See [2006] VSC 301.
VCAT's Vice President Harbison, sitting in the Legal Practice List for the first time I am aware [...]

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Tags: Discipline · Fair Trading Act · Legal Services Commissioner · Litigation estoppels · autrefois acquit · doctors · procedure · prosecutorial failures · prosecutors' duties · regulators' duties

Court of Appeal wreaks havoc with most current Legal Services Commissioner investigations

May 22nd, 2008 · 1 Comment

Update, 17 June 2008: The Age has caught up with this story. It's a funny old article. Weirdest is this comment 'A prominent senior counsel said the system was unfair, and any complaint should be forwarded immediately to the subject of the complaint.' In my experience, the Commissioner does almost invariably send [...]

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Tags: Discipline · Legal Profession Act · Legal Services Commissioner · appeals · judicial review · natural justice · regulators' duties

Child porn accused gets ticket back on strict conditions

May 17th, 2008 · No Comments

Almost 3 months ago, a 71 year old sole practitioner who has practiced for 28 years was charged with knowingly possessing child pornography and knowingly transmitting an image of a child having sex. He has not admitted the charges which remain to be tried. He is of course presumed innocent. Nevertheless, the [...]

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Tags: Admission · Criminal liability · Discipline · regulators' duties

Megafirm partner who stole to make budget gets his ticket back after long holiday

April 26th, 2008 · No Comments

The latest application for review of a decision of the Legal Services Board decision not to grant a practising certificate was in the matter of DAP v Law Institute of Victoria [2008] VCAT 688. The 57 year old solicitor and former Melbourne Cricket Club Committee member was a property lawyer at one of Melbourne's [...]

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Tags: Admission · Criminal liability · Legal Profession Act · Professional regulation · regulators' duties · trust monies

Once you've done your time, prior misconduct not an indicator of fitness to practise

April 4th, 2008 · No Comments

In JLL v Law Institute of Victoria Limited [2008] VCAT 456, a Box Hill solicitor who had paid only $5,000 of the $55,000 odd he owed under orders of the Legal Profession Tribunal was given a practising certificate by VCAT, overturning a decision of the Law Institute not to give him one on the basis [...]

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Tags: Criminal liability · Discipline · Misconduct · Professional regulation · Unsatisfactory conduct · regulators' duties

Peter Faris's comments about drugs and the Bar

November 4th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Update, 10 June 2008: The Bar's Ethics Committee dropped the investigation without giving reasons.
Update, 23 November: The press just can't seem to believe that anyone would be called Issac Brott, inevitably reverting to the more plausible Isaac Brott. And nor do they seem to be reading this blog. Here's The Australian again claiming the [...]

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Tags: Discipline · Ethics · advertising · duties of confidentiality · litigation ethics · procedure · regulators' duties

Supreme Court enjoins Legal Practice Board's solicitors from continuing to act

July 5th, 2007 · No Comments

ZG-W v CCW (a firm) (2007) VSC 235 is the latest in the saga of the Legal Practice Board's practising certificate cancellation of Melbourne's best known female criminal lawyer. She has succeeded in having the Board's lawyers enjoined from acting further for the Board on the relatively rare basis that it would bring the administration [...]

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Tags: Admission · Criminal liability · Ethics · Professional regulation · conflicts · duties of confidentiality · regulators' duties

The regulator's regulator, the Ombudsman, criticises Migration Agents' bureau de spank

June 28th, 2007 · No Comments

The Ombudsman has been looking into the performance of a regulator, MARA, the Migration Agents Registration Authority. He was critical. His press release is here, the full report here. Reproduced below are the bits about impartiality and the avoidance of conflicts of duties 'in the case where an industry representative body is also the regulatory [...]

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Tags: Ethics · Professional regulation · conflicts · duty and interest · regulators' duties

Judge Bowman explains Murray's Case

May 15th, 2007 · No Comments

VCAT's Acting President Judge Bowman today handed down a long and important decision in relation to the relationship between alleged failures to follow the procedures for investigating complaints against professionals laid down by legislation and the jurisdiction of the disciplinary tribunal to hear charges laid as a result of such investigations. After eight months' thought, [...]

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Tags: Discipline · VCAT · jurisdiction · procedure · regulators' duties