Login
Lawyers Weekly in the courtroom: Updates as they happen
From 2021, Lawyers Weekly will be attending disciplinary hearings and other trials that are most relevant to the legal profession. Join us as we provide updates on the relevant cases and stay tuned as decisions and reasons are published.
Naomi Neilson
As courts resume, Lawyers Weekly’s journalist’s will be tuning in live to hearings that involve either disciplinary action against an Australian lawyer or trials that the profession should be following – including public interest cases or test cases that could alter the way courts deliver judgements in the future.
If you have any questions or comments, get in touch with us here.
Please note that our Lawyers Weekly team is based in Sydney so most, if not all, hearings will be followed in NSW for the time being, unless it is held via audiovisual link. This may change as COVID-19 restrictions lift permanently and travelling between states with ease has been made possible again. We will still provide updates from other states via publicly available judgements.
***
22 March 2021
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Lawyer: Redacted until judgement is published.
Solicitor faces reprimand, costs order for threatening letter
An NSW-based solicitor who has been accused by the Law Society of sending a “threatening or intimidating” letter has told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal that he hopes to “never come across a particular case like this again”.
The Council of the Law Society of NSW submitted to NCAT that the lawyer in question sent a letter about a visa status that could have been perceived as threatening or intimidating. Shortly afterwards, his client took his own life and blamed an opposing client for the “stressful” situation.
Decision: Reserved.
***
18 March 2021
Federal Court of Australia
Trial: Christopher Murphy v The Daily Telegraph
High-profile defamation proceedings continue
The defamation proceedings between a high-profile Sydney lawyer and a News Corp media subsidiary are ongoing following allegations made to the Federal Court that an article had a “nasty tone” when it depicted the lawyer’s ability to attend court.
The Federal Court of Australia will resume proceedings between high-profile criminal lawyer Chris Murphy and Nationwide News over an article published in The Daily Telegraph that suggested he was “battling with the ravages of age” and with it an “associated deafness that has kept him from representing clients” in the courtroom.
Decision: Reserved.
***
10 March 2021
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Lawyer: Harland Koops
Sydney lawyer reprimanded, fined for trust account violations
A solicitor and co-founder of a boutique practice has been reprimanded, fined and ordered to undertake further education for causing a trust account breach.
Barrister for Harland Koops told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Wednesday, 10 March that errors involving a trust account breach were the result of an "honest but mistaken belief" and that he was not dishonest or wilful.
Decision: Finding of professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct. He has been reprimanded, fined $5,000, ordered to pay the Law Society's costs and told to undertake further education within 12 months.
***
22 February 2021
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Lawyer: Redacted until decision is published.
NSW lawyer admits to breaching client confidentiality
In what his counsel has insisted were “unusual circumstances”, a lawyer admitted to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal that he breached client confidentiality.
An NSW lawyer will face a finding of professional misconduct for his part in breaching client confidentiality six months into a Supreme Court trial. He told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) on Monday, 22 February that the matter was “very complicated” but that he accepted his wrongdoing and has taken steps to improve.
Decision: Reserved
***
18 January 2021
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Lawyer: David Duc Van Nguyen
Solicitor who made false statements faces caution and costs order
The Council of the NSW Law Society is seeking a finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct and a caution against a solicitor for making a false statement.
The Law Society’s Council has submitted to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) that the business and migration lawyer sent a document that contained incorrect information and behaved in a way not permitted as a lawyer.
Decision: Respondent is to pay the applicant’s costs agreed in the sum of $1,000 and he has received a caution.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
