Login
Barrister ordered to pay $56,000 for professional misconduct
A Sydney-based barrister has received a reprimand, fines of $5,000 and $1,000 for two counts of professional misconduct and has been ordered to pay costs fixed in the amount of $50,000 by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Jerome Doraisamy
In November 2017, Peter Kintominas was found guilty of two counts of professional misconduct for misleading the NSW Bar Council in two emails sent to the deputy director of professional conduct in June 2015 which contained false statements about compliance with conditions of his practising certificate (Ground A) and a failure to comply with those conditions, which concerned tax obligations and health conditions, both of which required reporting (Ground B).
In late June 2015, the Bar Council refused to grant him a practising certificate on the basis that he was not a fit and proper person for reason of false and misleading statements to the council about his compliance with the aforementioned conditions, and breaches of those conditions.
At the time, the tribunal said that a member of the public would expect strict adherence by a practitioner to any conditions imposed upon their practising certificate.
“The imposition of special conditions points to doubts in the mind of the regulator as to the practitioner being allowed to practise unencumbered. It points to concern on the part of the regulator that the public needs additional degrees of protection from possible harm, beyond those conferred by the requirements for admission to practise and the disclosures and commitments that form part of the annual practising certificate cycle,” it said last year.
“[Mr Kintominas] had little regard to them. This is not an instance of a one-off or isolated contravention, which might not justify an adverse disciplinary finding.
There was a series of contraventions, which occurred over a number of months.”
Those failures to comply with conditions imposed “were repeated and amounted to an almost total disregard of them”, and thus amounted to professional misconduct, the tribunal held.
In anticipation of a stage two hearing, the Bar Council sought orders for a reprimand, fine and costs payable.
In submissions made on the day of the stage two hearing, Mr Kintominas acknowledged that his acts or omissions were “dishonourable, disgraceful and a grave departure from the standards expected of a legal practitioner” and asked the tribunal to accept his remorse and contrition.
He further sought to acquiesce to the orders proposed by the Bar Council but requested that account be taken of his personal circumstances when handing down those orders.
The tribunal determined that its duty is to “protect the public, not punish the practitioner”, and therefore in ordering its fines totaling $6,000 for Grounds A and B, and costs for $50,000 – which were lower than those sought by the Bar Council – it took account of Mr Kintominas’ financial position.
“[He] had a lengthy, unblemished record of practise from 1988 to 2010 [and] the conduct in issue did not concern supply of services to clients,” the Tribunal noted.
“Should [he] apply for a practising certificate in the future it will be open to the [Bar Council] to assess fitness to practise at such time based upon then current information concerning [his] circumstances.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Mr Kintominas was a founding member of Banco Chambers. In our bulletin and earlier article we referred to Mr Kintominas as being a founding member of Banco Chambers. This was wrong. Mr Kintominas has never been a member of Banco Chambers and has never been associated with Banco Chambers. The error should not have been made and we unreservedly apologise to the members of Banco Chambers for it.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
You can email Jerome at:
