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WA barrister faces claims she practised without certificate
While facing allegations she worked without a practising certificate, a West Australian barrister convinced a tribunal to stay her suspension until review proceedings could be heard.
Naomi Neilson
Saritha Andrews, who practised out of Francis Burt Chambers, had her practising certificate for the 2024–25 year suspended by the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia for allegedly practising without a certificate between October 2023 and March 2024.
“I am not satisfied that the risk posed by the applicant is such that she should not be able to practice until after her application for review is determined,” Judge Jackson said in his written reasons.
After being admitted in 2012, Andrews practised as a solicitor in both Western Australia and Sydney before moving to the Bar in November 2020. She said she has never been the subject of a finding of professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct in her career.
On 30 June 2023, the last day of operation for her 2022–23 practising certificate, Andrews said she paid a fee to renew it for the 2023–24 year and sent an email to the board explaining that she had trouble logging in to its website but wanted confirmation of receipt.
The board said that despite a lack of a practising certificate, Andrews practised until 1 March 2024, when she was advised by a member of the board that no certificate had ever been issued to her and there was no record of her logging onto the website to apply for one.
In response, Andrews emailed the board to say she had applied.
“Significantly, the board says that its lack of any record of her applying, or even logging into its system to apply at the relevant time, means that there is no basis for her subsequent claims that at the time she sent those emails she honestly and reasonably believed that she had tried to apply,” Judge Jackson set out.
Andrews applied for another practising certificate shortly afterwards, but, given that it was not determined before June 2024, she made a further application for a certificate for the 2024–25 year.
That certificate was issued in August and suspended in October.
The board said it suspended her certificate because it “continues to believe, on reasonable grounds, that [Andrews is] unable to fulfil the inherent requirements of an Australian legal practitioner”.
Specifically, the board alleged Andrews made “false or misleading declarations” about when she applied for the certificate.
However, it did not say whether Andrews made the allegedly false statements knowingly, and submitted it was “not necessary” to its decision to determine whether it was intentional or not.
Judge Jackson disagreed, finding it would be “untenable” for the board’s decision to be made without first considering state of mind.
“I do not accept that the board, or this tribunal on review, can believe on reasonable grounds that a person is ‘unable to fulfil the inherent requirements of an Australian legal practitioner’ due to the making of a false or misleading representation without considering the state of mind of the practitioner at the time,” Judge Jackson said.
He added he could not understand why the risk of Andrews holding onto her practising certificate could not be managed “in the usual way” until the review matter has been determined.
The case is Andrews and Legal Practice Board of Western Australia [2024] WASAT 131 (29 November 2024).
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
