Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Amendment Act 2019 (Vic)

Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Amendment Act 2019

No. 31 of 2019

table of provisions

Section  Page

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purpose

2Commencement

3Principal Act

4Definition

Part 2—Amendment of Legal Profession Uniform Law

5Membership of Council

6Diversity of membership

7Admissions Committee

8Practising certificate granted in non-participating jurisdiction

Part 3—Other amendments to the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014

9Amendment of section 18A

10New Division 11 inserted in Part 12

Part 4—Repeal of this Act

11Repeal of this Act

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Endnotes

1      General information

Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Amendment Act 2019

No. 31 of 2019

[Assented to 17 September 2019]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to amend the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014—

(a)to increase the number of members of the Legal Services Council; and

(b)to ensure that the Legal Services Council's membership includes at least one member from each participating jurisdiction; and

(c)to ensure that the Admissions Committee's membership includes at least one current or former Supreme Court Judge from each participating jurisdiction; and

(d)to validate certain actions and decisions carried out or made by the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, the Victorian Legal Services Board and courts or tribunals in relation to complaints and investigations under Chapter 4 of the Legal Profession Act 2004.

2Commencement

(1)This Act, except Parts 2 and 3, comes into operation on the day after the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

(2)Part 2 comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(3)Part 3 is taken to have come into operation on 5 June 2019.

3Principal Act

In this Act, the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 is called the Principal Act.

4Definition

In this Act—

Legal Profession Uniform Law means the Legal Profession Uniform Law set out in Schedule 1 to the Principal Act.

Part 2—Amendment of Legal Profession Uniform Law

5Membership of Council

In clause 2(1) of Schedule 1 to the Legal Profession Uniform Law—

(a)for "5" substitute "7";

(b)in paragraph (a), for "1 member" substitute "2 members";

(c)in paragraph (c), for "2" substitute "3".

6Diversity of membership

For clause 4(1) of Schedule 1 to the Legal Profession Uniform Law substitute—

"(1)The Standing Committee must ensure that at least one member of the Council is drawn from each participating jurisdiction.".

7Admissions Committee

In clause 21(1) of Schedule 1 to the Legal Profession Uniform Law—

(a)for "7 persons drawn from participating jurisdictions and appointed by the Council, as follows" substitute "the following persons drawn from participating jurisdictions and appointed by the Council";

(b)in paragraph (a), for "2 current or former Supreme Court Judges from different jurisdictions" substitute "1 current or former Supreme Court Judge from each participating jurisdiction".

8Practising certificate granted in non-participating jurisdiction

In clause 2(1)(a)(ii) of Schedule 3 to the Legal Profession Uniform Law, for "section 49" substitute "section 43".

Part 3—Other amendments to the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014

9Amendment of section 18A

In section 18A of the Principal Act, before "Part 3" insert "Subject to Division 11 of Part 12,".

10New Division 11 inserted in Part 12

After Division 10 of Part 12 of the Principal Act insert—

"Division 11—Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Amendment Act 2019

185Substituted entity

For the purposes of clause 26(3) of Schedule 4 to the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Victoria) and despite anything to the contrary in that clause, the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner is the substituted entity and is to deal with a complaint or investigation referred to in clause 26(1) of that Schedule.

186Validation

(1)On and after 1 July 2015 and before the day on which section 185 (as inserted by section 10 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Amendment Act 2019) comes into operation, any of the following done or made, or purported to be done or made, in relation to a complaint made under Chapter 4, or an investigation referred to in Chapter 4, of the Legal Profession Act 2004 has and is taken always to have had the same force and effect as it would have had if section 185 had been in operation during that period—

(a)any thing done or purported to be done by or on behalf of the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, an Acting Victorian Legal Services Commissioner or a delegate of the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner;

(b)any thing done or purported to be done by or on behalf of the Victorian Legal Services Board;

(c)any decision or order made or purported to be made by a court or tribunal in a proceeding arising out of the complaint or investigation—

including, but not limited to—

(d)a thing done that is the subject of a relevant proceeding; or

(e)a decision or order that is the subject of, or is made in or arises from, a relevant proceeding.

(2)In this section—

relevant proceeding means a proceeding that has been commenced but not finally determined or discontinued before the day on which section 185 comes into operation.".

Part 4—Repeal of this Act

11Repeal of this Act

This Act is repealed on the first anniversary of the first day on which all of its provisions are in operation.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes

1   General information

See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 5 June 2019

Legislative Council: 29 August 2019

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 to change the membership of certain inter‑jurisdictional administrative bodies, to validate certain actions and decisions and for other purposes."