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A NSW-based solicitor with a “regrettable professional history” is to be refused a practising certificate until such time as he has complied with Notices issued under the Uniform Law.
In separate applications brought in mid-2018, the Law Society of NSW contended that solicitor Anthony Autore was guilty of professional misconduct, both of which pertained to an alleged failure to comply with Notices issued pursuant to s371 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Act.
In the second application, it held that he had not responded to two questions put to him and that his claim that he was unaware, in 2016, of the ability to fax documents, was disingenuous. He ultimately agreed that he had not provided a response within the specified time.
In both applications, NSWCAT noted that compliance with the Notices was mandatory, not optional.
In determining appropriate orders, NSWCAT observed that Mr Autore “has a regrettable professional history”, as set out by a Law Society affidavit, having been reprimanded twice in 2013 by the Legal Services Commissioner, twice by the Law Society in 1990 and 1996 respectively, once in 2012 by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, and was found to have engaged in professional misconduct in 2017 and then again in 2019.
“It is disappointing, to say the least, that the solicitor has, since as early as 1990, continued to engage in conduct on multiple occasions that has brought him to attention,” the tribunal reflected.
It was noted that Mr Autore considers himself retired and that he does not intend to practice law moving forward, and therefore NSWCAT said it would be “futile” to make an order for the suspension of his practising certificate. It did decide, however, that should he wish to resume practice, he would have to reapply for a certificate and that no such issuance should occur until he had complied with the aforementioned Notices.
Moreover, Mr Autore was issued with a reprimand and a fine of $15,000 in relation to the second application, the quantum of which was determined by virtue of previous findings of professional misconduct against him, which NSWCAT surmised as a “significant factor” in deciding that he should pay a “substantial fine”.
The full citation for this judgment is The Council of the Law Society of NSW v Autore [2020] NSWCATAD 79 and it can be found via CaselawNSW.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
You can email Jerome at:
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Jerome Doraisamy
