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Supreme Court puts end to lawyer, notorious law firm
A Victorian lawyer has claimed a “conspiracy” against himself, his colleagues, and their controversial law firm was behind the Legal Services Board’s decision not to renew his practising certificate.
Naomi Neilson
Following months of adjournments, unconventional hearings and multiple failed recusal applications, the Victorian Supreme Court has made an order to restrain Peter Ansell from engaging in legal practice or claiming he or company People Shop are entitled to do so.
The proceedings have a fraught history, dating back to a September 2023 decision that found Kuksal used a company to hold furniture for ransom and threatened customers with letters from Erudite Legal.
He and Xu were associated with the firm but had no legal qualifications.
Ansell, who was a director of People Shop since December 2021, was Erudite’s only solicitor. The Victorian Legal Services Board (VLSB) refused to renew his practising certificate in October 2022, and People Shop ceased to be an incorporated legal practice in March 2023.
Back in June, VLSB sought to make permanent a temporary interlocutory order that restrained all three from “communicating in a manner that associates them” with Erudite Legal. Due to recusal requests, this hearing was pushed back to August.
At the crux of those proceedings was a contention from the defendants that VLSB’s decision not to renew Ansell’s certificate was unlawful because, among other things, it was “effected for an improper purpose as part of a conspiracy to cause them harm”.
By reason of this, they submitted Ansell remains able to engage in legal practice in the expectation he will one day “be able to establish that the refusal to renew his practising certificate was void”.
In reasons handed down this month, Justice Gorton rejected this.
“The fact that it might later be established that [Ansell] was wrongly denied a practising certificate does not alter that present fact, or mean that he remains able to engage in legal practice in the meantime. The regulation of the profession would be impossible if it were otherwise,” Justice Gorton said in his written reasons.
On the balance of probabilities, Justice Gorton was satisfied Ansell breached the Uniform Law by engaging in legal practice after October 2022 and by representing that People Shop was similarly entitled to engage in legal practice after March 2023.
The court determined Ansell affirmed an affidavit in Magistrates Court proceedings brought against Kuksal in June 2023. Ansell was not a party and described himself as a lawyer.
When Kuksal obtained a costs order in his favour, his affidavit said it would support the “quantum of legal fees”. In one bill of costs, Ansell’s initials were referenced, as was his $450-an-hour rate.
Ansell also sent numerous emails with a signature block that indicated he was a director and lawyer of Erudite Legal.
“The evidence is, in my view, overwhelming, and compels a conclusion that Ansell has contravened the Uniform Law by engaging in legal practice at a time when he did not have a practising certificate and has also represented that People Shop Pty Ltd is entitled to engage in legal practice,” Justice Gorton said.
Given Ansell’s belief he is entitled to practise despite a risk he could be in contempt of court, Justice Gorton said the injunction was required.
Kuksal and Xu were also restrained.
Justice Gorton noted Kuksal either left or was told to leave the hearing room after he ignored directions to stop talking.
At one time, he was told not to cross-examine a witness of the VLSB on issues of credit, “but did not accept or abide by that ruling”.
While a room with an audio-visual link was set up to accommodate Kuksal during these times, he elected not to use the room.
In addition to prohibiting the defendants from using certain email addresses, Justice Gorton also enjoined the defendants from sending correspondence or engaging in behaviour that implied People Shop, Erudite, and New Edge Law is entitled to engage in legal practice.
The case is Victorian Legal Services Board v Kuksal [2024] VSC 674 (1 November 2024).
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
