On 13 August 2008, Deputy President O'Dwyer found charges of misconduct at common law made out against Kylie Minogue's one-time solicitor, the man towards the centre of the government's Operation Wickenby investigation, Michael Brereton. See Legal Services Commissioner v Brereton [2008] VCAT 1723. Mr O'Dwyer found he had transferred more than $2.3 million of [...]
Entries Tagged as 'duty and interest'
Kylie's one-time lawyer goes down, with a 'disgraceful and dishonourable' finding
August 28th, 2008 · No Comments
Tags: "disgraceful and dishonourable" · Discipline · Legal Practice Act · Legal Services Commissioner · Misconduct · Trust money · common law · conflicts · duty and interest · prosecutorial failures
Both sides apply to restrain the other's lawyers from acting
April 8th, 2008 · No Comments
I prepared an application to restrain a firm of solicitors from acting in a Corporations List matter in the Supreme Court recently, and so have been reading the latest cases about conflict injunctions. The very latest is TJ Board & Sons Pty Ltd v Castello [2008] VSC 91, where the plaintiff applied unsuccessfully to [...]
Tags: Ethics · conflicts · current client and past client · duties of confidentiality · duty and duty · duty and interest
Application by appellant to remove respondent's trial counsel from appeal dismissed
February 5th, 2008 · No Comments
In Chen v Chan [2008] VSCA 2, President Maxwell and Justice of Appeal Redlich dismissed an application by the appellant for an order enjoining the respondent's solicitor and counsel from acting in the appeal. The applicant alleged that there had been wrongdoing by the respondent's lawyers at the trial. In fact that was [...]
Tags: Abuse of process · Ethics · Professional regulation · concurrent duties · conflicts · duty and interest · duty to court · litigation ethics
Chinese wall holds up at investment bank
July 16th, 2007 · No Comments
Update, 13 November: Clayton Utz's take on the case here.
Here's a long Sydney Morning Herald article about the latest big Chinese wall case, this time not in the context of a law firm, but of Citigroup, an investment bank. Here's The Age's shorter version. The case is ASIC v Citigroup Global Markets Australia [...]
Tags: Ethics · concurrent duties · conflicts · duty and duty · duty and interest · prosecutorial failures
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 [...]
Tags: Ethics · Professional regulation · conflicts · duty and interest · regulators' duties
Updates: big words, Texan legal writing, conflicts of duties
May 27th, 2007 · No Comments
In my post "Judge uses big word", I commented on President Mason's use of "tergiversation". Now David Starkoff at Inchoate has noted another's analysis of the odds of each of the High Court judges other than Justice Kirby being responsible for the appearance of "epexegetical" (which seems to mean "explanatory in a way [...]
Tags: Ethics · Fiduciary duties · Judges · Legal writing · concurrent duties · conflicts · current client and past client · duties of confidentiality · duty and duty · duty and interest · interest of associate
Affair over 6 years and a $100,000 payment earn psychiatrist an 18 month holiday
April 16th, 2007 · No Comments
H v Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria [2007] VCAT 526 was a rehearing of a case before the Medical Practitioners Board (the decision of which is here). VCAT, constituted by Vice President Harbison and Associate Professor Davis, reduced the severity of the outcome of an unprofessional conduct prosecution for an intimate relationship with a former [...]
Tags: Discipline · Striking off · conflicts · doctors · duties of confidentiality · duty and interest
Solicitor-executor's work not legal work
February 11th, 2007 · No Comments
Patterson v S [1998] VLPT 11 is a decision of the Legal Profession Tribunal dealing with a sole practitioner who was the executor of a priest's will. It held that executors' work carried out by an executor who happens to be a solicitor is not legal work, and so fees for the work were not [...]
Tags: "legal services" · Ethics · Fiduciary duties · Legal Practice Act · Legal Profession Act · Professional fees and disbursements · conflicts · duty and interest
Lawyer's defamation suit against former client founders on absolute privilege
January 14th, 2007 · 1 Comment
In Sexter & Warmflash, P.C. v Margrabe, 2007 NY Slip Op 00065, a woman hired lawyers to represent her and her brother in a dispute with a cousin. The lawyers charged a reduced fee but could charge a 50% premium upon resolution of the dispute. The dispute was settled, but the woman thought the lawyers [...]
Tags: Uncategorized · conflicts · duty and interest
Roisin Annesley's Victorian Barristers' practice guide
October 29th, 2006 · No Comments
The Bar has produced a practice guide. It is a great achievement and stands as a beacon for the Law Institute's future efforts at promulgating knowledge of the practice rules. The Bar actually has something called the Professional Standards Education Committee. Written by Roisin Annesley, it was launched by Victoria Marles, the Legal Services Commissioner [...]
Tags: "professional negligence" · Book reviews · Discipline · Ethics · Legal Profession Act · Negligence · No win no fee · Professional fees and disbursements · Retainers · concurrent duties · conflicts · costs disclosure defaults · costs disputes · current client and past client · duties of confidentiality · duties regarding witnesses · duty and duty · duty and interest · duty to court · interest of associate · litigation ethics · procedure · setting aside costs agreements

