Kerin v Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee

Kerin v Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee was an appeal against the findings of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The appellant, a legal practitioner, was found guilty of unprofessional conduct in relation to a series of letters he wrote to a gun dealer in Kentucky, proposing to import prohibited firearms into Australia, and in relation to the importation of prohibited firearms and parts of firearms into Australia. The appellant was also found guilty of misleading the Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee. The court allowed the appeal to the extent of striking from the particulars of unprofessional conduct paragraphs 4(2) to 4(5) inclusive and paragraph 5(2). The court held that the Tribunal had applied the Briginshaw standard of proof and that the Tribunal's findings of fact were sufficiently supported by the evidence. The court found that the appellant did not intend to mislead the Complaints Committee and that the appeal should be allowed to the extent of striking from the particulars of unprofessional conduct the matters alleged in paragraphs 4(2) to 4(5) inclusive and paragraph 5(2).