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

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Entries Tagged as 'Legal Profession Act'

NSW Court of Appeal on difference between ‘professional misconduct’ and ‘unsatisfactory professional conduct’

February 8th, 2010 · No Comments

The distinction between ‘professional misconduct’ and ‘unsatisfactory professional conduct’ is usually elusive.  Guidance from an appellate court in relation to cognate legislation is therefore valuable.  It seems that one instance of ‘incredibly sloppy’ work involving innocent false representations being made to the other side, if it is comprised of a series of closely related bits [...]

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Tags: Discipline · Legal Profession Act · Misconduct · Unsatisfactory conduct · appeals · negligence as disciplinary breach

The concurrent operation of the new Evidence Act, 2008 and of the Legal Profession Act, 2004

January 19th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Section 8 of the Evidence Act, 2008 says it does not affect the operation of the provisions of other Acts.  So, although the compellability and competence provisions and the admissibility provisions of the new Act are often spoken of as a code, those who say so are thinking about the continuing operation of the common [...]

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Tags: Evidence · Legal Profession Act

Commissioner’s obligation to charge dishonesty if he intends to allege it

December 4th, 2009 · No Comments

Relatively recently, I posted on the question of whether a Bureau de Spank desiring to rely on a practitioner’s dishonesty or other form of conscious wrongdoing must expressly allege it in the charge, and discussed Walter v Council of Queensland Law Society Incorporated (1988) 77 ALR 228 at 234; [1988] HCA 8.  Now, in Legal [...]

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Tags: Discipline · Ethics · Legal Profession Act · Legal Services Commissioner · Misconduct · Practising certificates · Professional regulation · Striking off · Trust money · amendment · appeals · concurrent duties · conflicts · current client and past client · duty and duty · jurisdiction · natural justice · procedure · trust monies · wilful disregard for rules

Ombudsman carries out own-motion investigation of Legal Services Commissioner

September 22nd, 2009 · 2 Comments

A former client of mine, dissatisfied with the adverse outcome in a complaint he lodged making serious allegations against a senior member of the profession has tipped me off to an own motion investigation conducted into the Bureau de Spank by the Victorian Ombudsman.  The results, reproduced below, will not assist morale at the Bureau [...]

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Tags: Client Legal Privilege · Discipline · Judges · Legal Profession Act · Legal Services Commissioner · Professional regulation

Offences created by the Legal Profession Act, 2004

August 13th, 2009 · No Comments

Note: I drafted this post last financial year.  Since then, the value of a penalty unit increased today by about 3%, to $116.82, with the result that the dollar figures referred to below will be commensurately too low.  See the details at Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes.

Original post: I acted for a fellow whom the Law [...]

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Tags: Criminal liability · Legal Profession Act · prosecutors' duties · regulators' duties

VCAT explores definition of professional misconduct at common law unconnected with legal practice

August 7th, 2009 · No Comments

In Legal Services Commissioner v RAP [2009] VCAT 1200, the Bureau failed to establish a charge of professional misconduct at common law against a solicitor in respect of conduct which occurred otherwise than in the course of, and unconnected with, legal practice.  (Another charge, not the subject of this post, succeeded.) The allegation was that [...]

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Tags: "disgraceful and dishonourable" · Criminal liability · Discipline · Ethics · Legal Profession Act · Misconduct · common law · litigation ethics · prosecutorial failures

Informal service of lawyers’ bills

June 22nd, 2009 · 2 Comments

Recently, the County Court’s Practice Court accepted that where a client admitted having received a bill given by email, service in accordance with the Legal Practice Act, 1996 had been effected, so that various deadlines which are counted from that date then commenced to run.  That is so even though the commencement of the running [...]

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Tags: Legal Practice Act · Legal Profession Act · Professional fees and disbursements

Links to the states’ and territories’ Legal Profession Acts

June 18th, 2009 · 4 Comments

What follows are links to the Acts which regulate lawyers in each state and territory, ordered by date of principal commencement, commencement details, and, where available, links to the predecessor Act.  South Australia is yet to catch up with the rest of Australia, stuck with its Legal Practitioners Act, 1981.  Everyone else has Acts in [...]

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Tags: Legal Practice Act · Legal Profession Act

From when can solicitors claim interest on an unpaid bill?

June 7th, 2009 · No Comments

Under s. 95 the Legal Practice Act, 1996, interest was chargeable on bills of costs from the period from 30 days after payment is demanded until the bill is paid.  But what does it mean?  Does interest start to run 3o days after (i) the date of the bill, (ii) the day it was posted, [...]

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Tags: Legal Practice Act · Legal Profession Act · Professional fees and disbursements · Solicitor client bills of costs

60 days for referring pecuniary loss disputes to VCAT extendable

May 26th, 2009 · No Comments

I was reminded when reading Sibonna Nominees v R Legal [2009] VCAT 893 that the 60 day period after the Bureau de Spank gives a punter a ticket under s. 4.3.7 of the Legal Profession Act, 2004 to enter VCAT for adjudication of an unresolved civil complaint of the species ‘pecuniary loss dispute’ is extendable [...]

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Tags: Fair Trading Act · Legal Profession Act · Negligence