Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

APPENDICES
Complaints and Disputes outstanding
under the Legal Practice Act 1996 (the old Act)
3. Complaints and Disputes
outstanding under the Legal
Practice Act 1996 (the old Act)
On 12 December 2005, the Legal Services
Commissioner inherited 719 open complaint and
dispute files which had been opened under the Legal
Practice Act 1996 (the old Act). One of the key focus
areas of the Legal Services Commissioner has been to
finalise these old Act files.
This part of the report is about the outstanding old
Act files. It relates to the 27 old Act files that remained
open as at 30 June 2008 1 plus another two old Act files
that were re-opened during 2008-09 when the relevant
lawyer was located. So, this part of the report covers 29
old Act files.
Old Act Terms
The terms complaint and dispute have different
meanings under the old Act to what they have under
the Legal Profession Act 2004. For clarity, these terms are
defined below.
A dispute under the old Act was defined as:
• a dispute in relation to legal costs not exceeding
$15,000;
• a claim that a person has suffered pecuniary loss as
a result of an act or omission by a legal practitioner
or firm; or
• any other genuine dispute between a person and a
legal practitioner or law firm.
A complaint under the old Act was defined as a
complaint about the conduct of a legal practitioner
or (importantly) a law firm (cf disciplinary complaints
under the Legal Profession Act 2004).
3.1 Old Act files closed during 2008-09
The following table shows the number of old Act
files closed by the Legal Services Commissioner
during 2008-09 by complaint type.
Table: Old Act files closed
COMPLAINT
(CONDUCT)
COMPLAINT
& DISPUTE
(MIXED)
TOTAL
Solicitor 13 (93%) 1 (7%) 14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
3.2 Outcomes of old Act files closed during
2008-09
The following graph shows the outcomes of old
Act files closed during 2008-09.
One mixed file was also closed under the old Act
during the year. The outcome of the mixed file
was that the practitioner was likely to be found
guilty of unsatisfactory conduct (s.151(3)(c)) and
the dispute was settled.
Total
1 2 3 4 5 Total
Graph: Outcomes of Complaints
1 LSC formed view that VCAT likely to find practitioner or firm guilty
of a disciplinary breach
2 LSC formed view that VCAT unlikely to find practitioner or firm guilty
of a disciplinary breach
3 Practitioner ill health or not located
4 Complaint lacked legal substance (etc) (eg. alleged conduct appropriate)
1 It was reported in 2007-08 that 25 old Act files remained opened,
that number was incorrect. The number of old Act files that remained
opened at the end of 2007-08 was 27.
5 Another proceeding on foot
Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report 121