Re Tkacz; Ex parte Tkacz

The Full Bench of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, Martin CJ, Murray J and Templeman J, was asked to decide whether Michael Tkacz should be admitted to practice in Western Australia as a legal practitioner. Mr Tkacz had been convicted of a criminal offence in 1997, six years before he commenced his legal studies, and had been admitted to practice in New South Wales in 2006. He applied to be admitted in Western Australia under the mutual recognition legislation. The Court held that the mutual recognition legislation did not compel the Court to admit a person who had been admitted in another jurisdiction. The Court's inherent power to determine whether a person was fit and proper to be admitted to practice was not curtailed by the mutual recognition legislation, and the Court exercised its discretion to admit Mr Tkacz to practice in Western Australia.