Law Society of South Australia v Liddy

The Supreme Court of South Australia heard an application to have Mr Liddy's name removed from the roll of legal practitioners. Mr Liddy, who is currently serving a prison sentence, did not oppose the making of the order. The court exercised its inherent jurisdiction under s 89(3) of the Legal Practitioners Act 1981 (SA) to remove Mr Liddy's name from the roll of legal practitioners. The application was based on Mr Liddy's convictions and their nature and seriousness, and therefore a formal hearing before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal was not necessary. Mr Liddy was admitted in 1967 and appointed as a magistrate in 1974. He resigned from his appointment as a magistrate in December 1999. In June 2001, Mr Liddy was convicted of a number of offences, including indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse. The victims were young boys who were members of a life saving club that Mr Liddy coached. The offences were committed over a period of time, between 1991 and 1998. The court found that the offences were of an infamous nature, punishable by imprisonment, and therefore came within the statutory definition of unprofessional conduct. The number of offences and their seriousness made it inevitable that Mr Liddy was guilty of unprofessional conduct of a serious kind. The court's decision to remove Mr Liddy's name from the roll of legal practitioners was not intended to punish him, but to protect the public by removing the right to practise from a person who had demonstrated that he was not fit to remain a member of the legal profession. The court also noted that the public could not be confident in a profession which allowed a person who had committed such serious offences to remain within its ranks. The court ordered that Mr Liddy's name be struck off the roll and that he pay the costs of the application.