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While Jim Chalmers unveiled a pre-election budget that didn’t offer much for small law firms, Australian courts heard some extraordinary matters involving legal professionals. Here is your weekly round-up of the biggest stories for Australia’s legal profession.
For the week from 24 to 28 March, these were the 10 most-read stories on Lawyers Weekly (in case you missed them):
1. ATO coming for lawyers over tax failures
About 85 per cent of lawyers could be at risk of disciplinary action for failing to lodge tax returns, the Australian Taxation Office has revealed.
2. Costs order for alleged ‘sex pest’ barrister who fought to hide identity
The alleged “sex pest” barrister who was accused of making uninvited advances towards a junior solicitor in his chambers will shoulder the costs of a failed application to keep his identity a secret.
3. ‘Sketchy affidavit’ cause for referring solicitor to Law Society
The Law Society will review whether an NSW solicitor should be disciplined for asking his daughter to prepare an affidavit for his wife.
4. ‘Hope you die’: Lawyer allegedly threatened former client
In his desperation to recover the hundreds of thousands of dollars he loaned to his former client, an NSW lawyer allegedly told her he hoped she would die and claimed the world “would be a better place”.
5. Slater & Gordon suspects former employee, refers investigation outcomes to police
National plaintiff firm Slater & Gordon has referred outcomes from its forensic investigation into the recent “premeditated and carefully planned” mass email, sent to more than 900 staff, to Victoria Police, with the firm noting it has “reasonable grounds” to suspect a former employee sent the extraordinary correspondence.
6. Former Law Society president should be ‘in prison’, lawyer claims
A former lawyer has made a sensational claim that a former president of the ACT Law Society should “be in prison” for allegedly lying to the court about his fitness to hold a practising certificate.
7. Pig-hunting lawyer commits insurance fraud, court told
In the face of “concrete evidence”, a principal lawyer lied to his insurance company about an incident that involved pig hunting, a broken Can-Am vehicle, and a former client with a broken leg.
8. Budget 2025: What lawyers need to know
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has handed down the fourth budget of the Albanese government. Here’s what legal professionals need to know ahead of an imminent federal election.
9. More court stoushes in store for boutique firm and vengeful training lawyer
In what appears to be a seemingly endless legal battle, a Parramatta boutique law firm has been dragged through yet another hearing with a man it provided supervised legal training to.
10. Thousands of court files accessed in ‘significant’ data breach
NSW Police is currently investigating a data breach at a government department, after which 9,000 “sensitive court files” were reportedly accessed, including AVOs and court affidavits.
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