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Barrister’s contempt of court finding challenged by client
An NSW barrister banned from engaging in legal practice was challenged by a former client over listings on directory websites.
Naomi Neilson
Justice Anthony Payne of the NSW Supreme Court made a declaration that Michael Rollinson was in contempt of court by engaging in legal practice or implying he was entitled to engage in legal practice between June and August 2022.
Late last year, Rollinson pleaded guilty to 13 contempt charges for breaching an undertaking and injunctions over the seven-week period in 2022. Four charges related to the concerns notice he sent to Lawyers Weekly on behalf of solicitor and client Vincent Stanizzo.
At the time, Rollinson was restricted from engaging in legal practice.
The proceedings were remanded on the condition Rollinson enter an agreement to comply with conditions, including to be of good behaviour and to not be in contact with Stanizzo.
In a judgment published late last month, Justice Payne said he was satisfied Rollinson complied with the court’s orders and that any term of actual imprisonment would be “inappropriate”.
“On all of the evidence, I am satisfied that there is no realistic prospect of further offending by Rollinson of the kind the subject of these proceedings and that he will continue to access appropriate treatment to manage his conditions,” Justice Payne said.
In the same proceedings, Justice Payne dealt with a matter concerning a former client who had made a complaint to the Legal Services Commission relating to a period between 2016 and 2019.
While the complaint was made prior to 2021 and the court’s orders, the client provided screenshots taken in late 2024 of two websites that listed Rollinson as a practising barrister. However, the email address included in those listings was inactive.
There was also a screenshot of Rollinson’s Australian Business Number and trading name available on the “ABN Lookup” website.
Rollinson told the court he had not been in contact with the directory websites, had not caused his own name to be listed on them, and was otherwise not aware the listing existed prior to the screenshots.
In support of this, Rollinson’s representatives provided information taken from one of the two directory websites that appeared to provide the contact details for Justice Payne, who said he had “never had contact with [the website] and was unaware of the entry”.
“I have no hesitation in accepting Rollinson’s evidence that he did not cause his name to appear on these websites and that he was unaware of the entries,” Justice Payne said.
As for the ABN, Justice Payne accepted Rollinson’s evidence that the ABN was no longer registered for GST and the website would not refer to trading names from November 2025.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
