Legal Services Commissioner v PRF - [2023] QCAT 291

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION: Legal Services Commissioner v PRF [2023] QCAT 291

PARTIES:
LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSIONER

(applicant)

v

PRF

(respondent)

APPLICATIONNO/S: OCR190-22

MATTERTYPE: Occupational regulation matters

DELIVEREDON: 7 August 2023

HEARINGDATE: 26 June 2023

HEARDAT: Brisbane

DECISION OF:
Justice Brown

Assisted by:

Mr Ross Perrett, Practitioner Panel Member Dr Julian Lamont, Lay Panel Member

ORDERS:

The respondent’s conduct the subject of charge 1 amounts to unsatisfactory professional conduct.

The respondent is publicly reprimanded.

The respondent pay a pecuniary penalty of $1,500.

The respondent undertake the domestic and family violence education course nominated by the LSC at hearing, or if that course is discontinued an equivalent course to be nominated by the LSC, and upon completion provide evidence of completion to the LSC.

The respondent pay the LSC’s costs.

CATCHWORDS:
PROFESSIONS AND TRADES – LAWYERS – COMPLAINTS AND DISCIPLINE – PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT AND UNSATISFACTORY PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT – GENERALLY – where

the respondent’s daughter was involved in domestic and family law proceedings under the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld) (“DFVPA”) and Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“FLA”) – where the respondent sent an email to 20 recipients disclosing the identity of a party to a proceeding and a child concerned in a proceeding contrary to the DFVPA – where the email also contravened s 121(1)

of the FLA by publishing an account of proceedings or part of proceedings that identified a party to the proceedings – whether the respondent’s conduct should be characterised as professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct

PROFESSIONS AND TRADES – LAWYERS – COMPLAINTS AND DISCIPLINE – DISCIPLINARY
PROCEEDINGS – GENERALLY – where the respondent was found to have engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct – whether the pecuniary penalty sought by the applicant, a public reprimand and an order that the respondent undertake a course nominated by the applicant in relation to domestic violence is an appropriate sanction

Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld)
Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld)
Legal Services Commissioner v Cooper [2011] QCAT 209 Legal Services Commissioner v Orchard [2012] QCAT 583

APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION:

Applicant: A Angeli, instructed by the Legal Services Commissioner

Respondent: M Morris, of Gilshenan and Luton Lawyers

REASONS FOR DECISION

These reasons use pseudonyms to protect innocent parties involved in domestic violence and family law proceedings from potential harm, further to that which already may have occurred, as a result of the particular breach which is the subject of these reasons.
The respondent, PRF, is an Australian legal practitioner. He was admitted as a solicitor in 2001. At all relevant times he held an unrestricted principal practising certificate and was the legal practitioner director of a law firm which ceased trading on 30 June 2022. He had been in private practice for 12 years. In addition to private practice, he has held several roles in various public service departments or agencies including in legal and quasi-legal roles. He has no previous disciplinary history.
On 27…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2023] QCAT 291
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal was asked to decide whether the conduct of PRF, a lawyer, amounted to unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct. The Legal Services Commissioner alleged that PRF had breached confidentiality obligations in the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld) and the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) by disclosing the identity of parties and children involved in proceedings to which he was a party. The Tribunal found that PRF's conduct amounted to unsatisfactory professional conduct, not professional misconduct, because while serious, it did not reach the level of a substantial or consistent failure to maintain professional standards. The Tribunal considered the impact of the disclosure on the affected parties, PRF's personal and work circumstances at the time, his remorse, and the measures he took to remedy the situation. The Tribunal ordered a public reprimand, a pecuniary penalty of $1,500, an undertaking to complete a domestic violence education course, and payment of costs.

Orders