Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

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APPENDICES Complaints and Disputes outstanding under the Legal Practice Act 1996 (the old Act) 3.10 Disciplinary matters referred to the Tribunal prior to 12/12/05 by LIV under Legal Practice Act 1996 which were awaiting hearing and final orders as at 30 June 2009 Practitioner Date charges referred and who referred Type of Charges Current status Case one 12/06/2003 LIV Misconduct – unauthorised entry and sale of client’s property for legal costs Awaiting hearing date 3.11 Disciplinary matters on appeal to the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria as at 30 June 2009 Practitioner Date charges referred and who referred Charges Current status Case one 28/06/2007 LSC Misconduct – contravention of rule 19(1) of Trust Account Practice Rules, failure to maintain separate ledger account re each matter and each client failure to maintain a specific separate trust ledger re purchase and sale of land by client; applying trust moneys held obo vendor before release by purchaser; contravention of s174(3) – withdrawing and applying trust money without consent of person for whom money held; misappropriation of trust moneys (x2); having a deficiency in trust account; contravention of rule 32 Trust Account Practice Rules – failing to notify auditor of existence of a deficiency; contravention of s194(1) – failure to produce documents for purpose of inspection by inspector (x2); failure to keep accurate trust account records (x2); withdrawing trust moneys otherwise than in accordance with section 174(3); contravention of rule 8(1)(a) Professional Conduct & Practice Rules 2005 – borrowing moneys personally from client; contravention rule 11.1.1 of Professional Conduct & Practice Rules 2003 – borrowing moneys personally from client (x2); creating conflict of interest between personal interests and interests of client (x3) Listed for directions hearing on 17 July 2009 3.12 Applications for leave to Appeal to the High Court as at 30 June 2009 Practitioner Date application made and who applied Details of charges referred to VCAT Current status Case one On or about 30 April 2009; Legal Practitioner Misconduct – preparing and signing a document for use in court knowing it to be false and misleading Pending 126 Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report
APPENDICES Delegations 4. Delegations Under section 6.3.12 of the Legal Profession Act 2004, the Legal Services Commissioner may delegate some of the functions of her office to an employee or to a prescribed person. The Law Institute and the Victorian Bar are prescribed persons, as are the members of the Ethics Committee of the Victorian Bar. The Legal Services Commissioner is required at least once every 12 months to undertake an audit of the existing delegations to determine whether each delegation is still appropriate. The 2008-09 audit resulted in no new delegations and no revocations. 4.1 Current delegations The following table lists all of the delegations made by the Legal Services Commissioner as in force at the end of 2008-09, excepting those delegations that had become redundant and are detailed in the following table. This table includes delegations to internal and external persons. Since the previous audit of delegations in January 2008, when 16 delegations were in place and a further two delegations were made as part of that audit, a further 14 delegations have been made to staff positions. Four of the new delegations were made to assist the Commissioner with handling complaints in accordance with the Court of Appeal’s decision in Byrne v Marles. Five of the new delegations were made following a restructure of the office in early 2009 when new positions were created. Table: Delegations made under the Legal Profession Act 2004 Date of Delegation Delegate Functions Delegated 28 December 2005 Director, Investigations Part 4.2 – Making a Complaint Section 4.2.8 – notification of a complaint to a law practice or an Australian legal practitioner Section 4.2.9 – requirement for further information from complainant Section 4.2.10 – power to summarily dismiss a complaint Part 4.3, Division 2 – Dealing with Civil Complaints Section 4.3.3 – lodgement of disputed costs Section 4.3.4 – dealing with lodged costs Section 4.3.5 – attempt to resolve civil dispute Section 4.3.6 – notice where civil dispute is not likely to be resolved, or is unsuitable for resolution Section 4.3.7 – notice where dispute resolution fails Part 4.3, Division 3 - Mediation Section 4.3.9 – appointment of mediator Section 4.3.13 – power to dismiss complaint where complainant fails to attend mediation, and requirement to provide notice to complainant where law practice or Australian legal practitioner fails to attend mediation Part 4.3, Division 4 – Resolution of Civil Disputes by the Tribunal Section 4.3.15 – notice about unresolved disputes Part 4.4, Division 3 - Investigations Section 4.4.7- investigation of disciplinary complaint Section 4.4.8 - investigation without complaint Section 4.4.9 - referral of disciplinary complaint to prescribed investigatory body for investigation Section 4.4.10(3) – powers following receipt of a report from a prescribed investigatory body Section 4.4.11- power to require practitioner, law practice and others to provide information and documents Section 4.4.12 - investigation to be conducted expeditiously Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report 127
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A N N UA L R E P O R T 2009
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Table of Contents Chapter 1 - About
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Our Mission: The Legal Services Com
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Chapter ONE About the Legal Service
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints Obj
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints A c
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints A m
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints Com
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints Our
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints Dis
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints Cas
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Chapter TWO Handling complaints •
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Chapter THREE Educating the legal p
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Chapter FOUR Educating the communit
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Chapter FIVE Projects and research
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Chapter SIX Human Resources Objecti
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Chapter SIX Human Resources Figure:
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Chapter SIX Human Resources Organis
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Chapter SIX Human Resources Table:
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Chapter SIX Human Resources Human R
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Chapter seven Governance Objective:
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Chapter SEVEN Governance National C
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Chapter SEVEN Governance Office-Bas
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Chapter SEVEN Governance Indicator
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Chapter EIGHT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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Chapter EIGHT Financial Statements
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Page 77 and 78: Chapter EIGHT Financial Statements
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Page 104 and 105: APPENDICES Introduction to Complain
Page 106 and 107: APPENDICES Complaints under the Leg
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Page 140: Level 9, 330 Collins Street MELBOUR
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Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

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