In this post, I just reproduce what Deputy President Dwyer said recently about the burden of proof, right to silence, and inferences which may be drawn from the fact of the exercise by a solicitor of the right to silence. He said it in the context of a hard-fought hearing into the conduct of Kylie's [...]

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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 [...]

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Friday is definitely law news day. The Australian and the Australian Financial Review both have several pages of law news of a Friday. I might try to bring to the attention of you readers articles of interest from both on a relatively regular basis.
First though, some things from not-Friday. ABC Radio National's The [...]

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In Byrne v Marles [2008] VSCA 78, the subject of this earlier post, another issue arose. Justice Nettle confirmed that a complaint made to anyone other than the Commissioner is invalid as a trigger for the operation of the Legal Profession Act, 2004, but that if it finds its way to the Commissioner otherwise [...]

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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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I have always been a bit chary about allowing lawyers for whom I act to communicate directly with complainants, thinking it often more desirable for communications to be principally with the Legal Services Commissioner once the complaint process was initiated. Turns out it was a rare moment of over-anxiety on my part. In [...]

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Update, 13 June 2008: In Legal Services Commissioner v GT [2008] VCAT 982, the solicitor failed to respond to a Bureau demand for 8 months. The complaint about which the Commissioner sought information was of not attending to client affairs, just like the complaint which, amongst others, gave rise to two misconduct findings and two [...]

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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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In Legal Services Commissioner v SAC [2008] VCAT 576, a solicitor ignored the Bureau for over 6 months before the Bureau moved to prosecute him for non-compliance with the Commissioner's demands.  After the charge was laid but before it was heard, the solicitor provided an adequate response and apologised. Didn't do him any good though: [...]

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In Legal Services Commissioner v RMB [2008] VCAT 170, the Bureau de Spank prosecuted a Fitzroy sole practitioner who had studiously ignored a complaint for nearly 11 months. The solicitor finished up paying just $2,500 including costs. Again, the Commissioner is to be commended for keeping costs low ($1,500) by sending along one of [...]

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