Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Act 1983 (ACT)
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Legal Practitioners (Amendment)
Ordinance 1983
No. 61 of 1983
I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Ordinance under the Seat of Government (Administration) Act 1910.
Dated 21 December 1983.
N. M. STEPHEN Governor-General
By His Excellency's Command,
GARETH EVANS
Attorney-General
An Ordinance to amend the Legal Practitioners Ordinance 1970
(a) by adding at the end of paragraph (2) (a) "and"; (b) by omitting sub-paragraph (2) (b) (ii) and substituting the following
sub-paragraph:
Short title
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Legal Practitioners (Amendment)
Ordinance 1983}
Principal Ordinance .
| Ordinance 1970.2 | 2. In this Ordinance, "Principal Ordinance" means the Legal Practitioners |
Admission as barrister and solicitor
3. Section 10 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
Legal Practitioners (Amendment) No. 61, 1983 343
"(ii) completed a course of legal education of not less than 6 months' duration prescribed for the purposes of this sub-paragraph."; and
| (c) | by omitting paragraph (2) (c). |
Admission of overseas practitioners
4. Section 11 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
| (a) | by omitting from paragraph (1) (a) "and" (last occurring); and |
| (b) | by omitting paragraph (1) (b). |
Law Society may be heard on hearing of applications
5. Section 12A of the Principal Ordinance is amended by omitting "for
admission".
Oath or affirmation by barristers and solicitors
6. Section 14 of the Principal Ordinance is amended by omitting "an oath or affirmation in accordance with the form in the Schedule to the Constitution of the Commonwealth and also".
Period for which articles are to be entered into
7. Section 19 of the Principal Ordinance is amended by omitting from sub-section (1) "paragraph (a) of sub-section (4) of section 16 of this Ordinance" and substituting "paragraph 16 (4) (a) or (aa)".
Powers of Disciplinary Committee
8. Section 36 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
| (a) | by omitting from sub-section (2) "the last preceding sub-section" and "or such part of the costs of the inquiry as are specified" and substituting "sub-section (1)" and "of the inquiry or such part of those costs as is specified", respectively; | |
| (b) | by inserting after sub-section (2) the following sub-section: | |
|
order the Law Society to pay to the barrister and solicitor his costs of the inquiry or such part of those costs as is specified in the order."; and
(c) by inserting after sub-section (5) the following sub-section: "(5A) The amount of costs ordered to be paid by the Law Society to a barrister and solicitor under this section is recoverable as a debt due
by the Law Society to the barrister and solicitor.".
Powers of Court to discipline
9. Section 41 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by omitting from sub-section (3) "of this section"; (b)
by omitting from sub-section (3) "are specified" and substituting "is specified";
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(c) by inserting after sub-section (3) the following sub-section: "(3A) Where, in proceedings before the Court arising out of the furnishing by the Disciplinary Committee of a report in relation to the professional behaviour of a barrister and solicitor, the Court does not make an order under sub-section (1) against the barrister and solicitor, the Court may, in addition to any order that it makes in relation to the costs of the proceedings before the Court, order the Law Society to pay to the barrister and solicitor his costs of the inquiry before the Disciplinary Committee or such part of those costs as is specified in the order."; and
(d)
by omitting from sub-section (4) "sub-sections (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7) of section 36 of this Ordinance" and "sub-section (2) of that section" and substituting "sub-sections 36 (3), (4), (5), (5A), (6) and (7)"and "sub-section 36 (2) or (2A)", respectively.
Receipts for trust moneys
10. Section 56 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by inserting after sub-section (1) the following sub-section:
"(lA) A receipt issued by a solicitor under this section in respect of
trust money shall be issued not later than the next day on which the bank at which the general trust bank account is maintained by him is open for business after the day on which he receives the money.";
(b)
by omitting from sub-section (2) "the last preceding section" and substituting "section 55"; and
(c) by omitting sub-section (3).
Audit of trust accounts
11. Section 58 of the Principal Ordinance is amended by inserting after sub-section (1) the following sub-sections:
"(lA) Subject to sub-section (1C), where— (a) a solicitor who practises in the Territory on his own account ceases to practise on his own account; or (b) a solicitor who practises in the Territory as a member of a partnership retires from that partnership,
the solicitor shall, not later than 7 days after the date on which he so ceases to practise or retires from the partnership, as the case may be, engage an auditor or firm of auditors to audit his records, or the records kept on behalf of the partnership, in respect of trust moneys held during the period commencing on the first day of the year in which he ceases to practise or retires from the partnership and ending on the date on which he ceases to practise or retires from the partnership.
Penalty: $1,000.
"(IB) Where a person engages an auditor or a firm of auditors under
sub-section (1 A), he shall, within 14 days after the date on which he engages the
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auditor or firm, notify the Law Society of the name of the auditor or firm, as the
case requires.
Penalty: $500.
"(1C) Sub-section (lA) does not apply to or in relation to a solicitor who
practises in the Territory as a member of a partnership and who retires from that partnership where the business of the partnership is carried on by a continuing partner, either alone or in partnership with another person.".
Auditor to report
12. Section 61 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by inserting after sub-section (3) the following sub-section: "(3A) A solicitor, other than a solicitor to whom sub-section 58 (1 A) applies, shall send the duplicate of any report delivered to him in accordance with sub-section (3) to the Law Society not later than 30 June in the year next following the year to which the report relates or before the expiration of such further period (if any) as the Law Society, on application made in writing by the solicitor before that date, allows.";
(b)
by inserting in sub-section (4) "to whom sub-section 58 (1A) applies" after "A solicitor"; and
(c)
by omitting from sub-section (4) "the last preceding sub-section" and substituting "sub-section (3)".
Appointment of examiner
13. Section 66 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by inserting after sub-section (1) the following sub-section: "(1 A) The Law Society may appoint a person for such period as the Law Society determines to make such examination of the records of trust moneys kept by such solicitors as are from time to time specified
by the Law Society."; and (b) by omitting from sub-section (2) "the last preceding sub-section" and substituting "sub-section (1) or (lA)".
Production of books, &c.
14. Section 67 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by inserting in paragraph (1) (a) "or (1 A)"after "66 (1)"; (b) by inserting in sub-section (lA) "or (1 A) "after "66 (l)";and (c)
by omitting from sub-section (2) "sub-section (1) of the last preceding section" and substituting "sub-section 66 (1) or (lA)".
Solicitor to deposit portion of trust moneys with Law Society
15. Section 71 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a)
by omitting from sub-section (1) "one-half and substituting "two-thirds";
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(b)
by omitting from sub-section (2) "one-half" and substituting "two-thirds"; and
(c)
by omitting from sub-section (3) "one-half (wherever occurring) and substituting "two-thirds".
Investment of deposits and Statutory Interest Account
16. Section 74A of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a)
by omitting paragraph (4) (a) and substituting the following paragraph:
"(a) to supplement from time to time the Fidelity Fund;";
(b) by omitting from paragraph (4) (b) "aid;" and substituting "aid and to provide funds to the Legal Aid Commission (A.C.T.);"; (c) by omitting from paragraph (4) (c) "research; and" and substituting "research and to meet the costs of maintaining any scheme of continuing legal education conducted by the Law Society, including such proportion of the salary paid to an employee of the Law Society who is engaged in maintaining such a scheme as is attributable to the time spent by that employee in so maintaining the scheme;"; and (d) by inserting after paragraph (4) (c) the following paragraphs: "(ca) to pay the amount of any costs and disbursements incurred by the Law Society, or to reimburse the Law Society for any such amount paid by it, in relation to an inquiry before the Disciplinary Committee, or to proceedings before the Court, under Part V, including the amount of any legal costs incurred or paid by the Law Society in relation to the making of a decision whether such an inquiry should be made or such proceedings should be instituted;
(cb) to assist in the conduct and maintenance of a course of legal education, being a course of legal education that is conducted and maintained in the Territory and that is prescribed for the purposes of sub-paragraph 10 (2) (b) (ii);and".
Payment of compensation
17. Section 86 of the Principal Ordinance is amended by omitting from sub-section (2) "the last preceding sub-section" and "Fifty thousand dollars" and substituting "sub-section (1)" and "$200,000 or such larger amount as the Council of the Law Society may determine in a particular case", respectively.
Levies to supplement Fund
18. Section 90 of the Principal Ordinance is amended—
(a) by omitting from sub-section (1) "not exceeding Twenty dollars"; and (b) by omitting sub-section (4).
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NOTES
1. Notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 30 December 1983.
2. No. 43, 1970 as amended by No. 51, 1970; No. 9, 1971; No. 4, 1972; No. 2, 1973; No. 5, 1974; Nos. 1, 9, 22 and 45, 1975; Nos. 28 and 68, 1976; Nos. 20, 55 and 62, 1977; Nos. 8 and 46,1978; Nos. 20 and 40,1979; No. 16,1980; No. 38,1982.
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