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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A Morwell solicitor has been ordered to pay a fine of $3,000 and costs of almost $2,500 for ignoring the Legal Services Commissioner's demands under the Legal Profession Act, 2004 power resident in her to compel written explanations of conduct the subject of a complaint and to compel the production of documents — in this [...]

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The Legal Services Commissioner's annual report went online today. You can download the pdf by clicking here. The big news is that she's put 2 new blokes on the staff, but the blokes to sheila ratio has actually decreased (to 1 in 20).
In the year to 30 June 2007, the Commissioner's staff of 45 [...]

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In the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner's 2006-2007 annual report, she makes the following points about withdrawing complaints under the Legal Profession Act, 2004:

civil complaints and disciplinary complaints alike may be withdrawn;
if a civil complaint which is characterised as a costs dispute is withdrawn, any costs paid into trust at the outset must be paid to [...]

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The Legal Services Commissioner, Victoria Marles, is to speak at the Australian Legal Practice Management Association's conference in Melbourne on 26 October 2007. I feel for her, with the 4 p.m. Friday shift. With her NSW counterpart Steve Mark, she will speak on what is left to do in creating a truly national [...]

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The Legal Services Commissioner's website is growing some content. Her annual report for the part-financial year ending 2006 is published there. In summary:

For those who enjoy the suffering of others, commencing at p. 22 there is a list of all the adverse disciplinary findings made by VCAT's Legal Practice List, and it names the [...]

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