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‘Wet dildo’: Solicitor faces discipline for shocking social media posts
Controversial lawyer Nathan Buckley, who publicly accused the Law Society of NSW of targeting his “arse like a wet dildo”, has failed to have an application for disciplinary findings thrown out.
Naomi Neilson
The NSW Law Society’s council brought an application alleging Nathan Buckley’s social media activity in late 2021 amounted to unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct.
He was then accused of writing: “As soon as you take on the establishment, the Law Society will be over your arse like a wet dildo”.
In response to the Law Society’s application, Mr Buckley submitted there were “preliminary issues” and objected to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s (NCAT) jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Justice Susanne Cole dismissed Mr Buckley’s application, paving the way for the Law Society to continue its application.
The “wet dildo” comment was made in October 2021 and followed a decision by Justice Robert Beech-Jones in Kassam v Hazzard to dismiss an application objecting to COVID-19 restrictions and vaccines. Mr Buckley had acted for the plaintiff in the matter.
Justice Beech-Jones found while someone may consent to being vaccinated to avoid restrictions on their movement or to obtain access to a work site, “that did not result in their consent being vitiated”.
On the Twitter (now X) account of his former law practice, G&B Lawyers, Mr Buckley allegedly accused Justice Beech-Jones of determining “no one in NSW has any rights” and “no one has a right to bodily integrity … he basically said it is ok [sic] to kill anyone you like”.
It triggered a slew of comments from other Twitter users, including one asking if he would be correct to assume it would be OK to “cut the testicles of pedos [sic] as they don’t have any rights”.
In reply, Mr Buckley allegedly wrote: “You’re correct based on today’s judgment. Go for it. Pedos [sic] have no rights.”
Another person asked if the judgment meant he could “go on a rampage”, and Mr Buckley allegedly told him to “do as you please”.
When one user asked if anyone had the contact details of Justice Beech-Jones to “prank him 24/7”, Mr Buckley allegedly replied “it’s on the website” and posted a link to NSW Supreme Court’s contact page.
The NSW Law Society alleged this conduct “did not honestly or accurately characterise the effect of the Kassam judgment” and was then likely to “mislead persons as to the effect of the judgment and/or was likely to undermine confidence in the authority of Beech-Jones”.
In August 2021, the Law Society alleged Mr Buckley made public statements encouraging aged-care workers to breach laws by not complying with the coronavirus vaccine. He allegedly suggested the laws made by the national cabinet have “no legal force”.
The same month, Mr Buckley allegedly made public statements encouraging residents of certain local government areas (LGAs) to breach laws by deliberating providing false information to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The comments were in reference to restriction orders on work sites.
“A tip to get around the LGA rules – login to the ASIC portal and change your registered business address and principal place of business address to an LGA that is not restricted,” the post on the G&B Lawyers Facebook page allegedly read.
The Law Society’s application alleged Mr Buckley had acted in a manner “which was likely to a material degree to be prejudicial to, or diminish the public confidence in, the administration of justice and/or bring the legal profession into disrepute”.
In support of his application to have the Law Society’s case thrown out, Mr Buckley told NCAT a “principle of finality” applied and contended res judicata estoppel, issue estoppel or Anshun estoppel are present in the circumstances of the application.
Justice Cole rejected all contentions.
Referring to the principle of finality, Justice Cole said no proper basis had been made out, and Mr Buckley’s argument was “misconceived”.
The matter will return in February 2024.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
