In The Law Society of New South Wales v Spring [2007] NSWSC 1273, the Supreme Court of NSW referred to one of the defendants as 'Lolly Pops'.  Its principal was another defendant, Mr Spring.  He was a retail leases specialist and helped people with retail lease problems, and represented them in statutory tribunals where [...]

[Read more →]

The New York Law Journal has an interesting piece about liability exposures of in-house counsel. All sounds a bit foreign to Australian ears, but maybe it won't in a few years' time. Here are two examples:
SHAREHOLDER CLASS ACTIONS
Several shareholder class actions were commenced against a financial institution alleging breach of fiduciary duties, violations of Rule [...]

[Read more →]

In Orrong Strategies Pty Ltd v Village Roadshow Limited [2007] VSC 1, Habersberger J considered the burden of proof required in a civil case in which contravention of s. 314 of the Legal Practice Act, 1996 (Vic.) was alleged. That was a criminal provision, providing for imprisonment for up to 2 years, and to breach [...]

[Read more →]

Here's an interesting report on a little American case which is illustrative of the special jealousy with which the law reserves to lawyers the making of wills, together with some interesting broader commentary on the whole question of the reservation of "legal work" to lawyers. An insurance salesman engaged in unqualified practice by helping a [...]

[Read more →]

In  Robert J Lawyers v Kirby [2006] VCAT 2609 A client complained about his solicitor's fees. The Legal Services Commissioner was unable to  settle the costs dispute. The solicitor exercised his right to refer the matter to the Legal Practice List of VCAT. Unusual, but sensible, since the Legal Practice Act, 1996 empowers VCAT to [...]

[Read more →]

In Legal Services Commissioner v DLM [2006] LPT 13, the solicitor was ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution, publicly reprimanded, and had his practising certificate suspended for 4 months. He was guilty of sharing receipts from his law practice with an unqualified conveyancer. He agreed with a former colleague, not legally qualified, that [...]

[Read more →]