In October 2021, an intercepted phone call caught Payne telling his client he would tell the Cobar Local Court they could not get in touch and to run the drug driving matter in the client’s absence.

Payne added the “trap” allegedly set by police to throw the client behind bars was “as plain as the nose on your face”.

He finished with: “Well f--kin’ [sic] stay where you are.”

Payne pleaded guilty and was sentenced last September.

The Council of the NSW Law Society cancelled Payne’s practising certificate and barred him from applying for a new one for five years.

Appearing before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) in mid-July, Payne said he was concerned about his client’s mental health state and made a “serious error of judgment and sought to protect the wellbeing of someone I knew well”.

While he did not wish to excuse his behaviour, Payne said the council imposed the “most extreme sanction upon him”.

VIEW ALL

Payne added that the community corrections order was evidence that the conduct “was a single and temporary absence of judgment” and was not a calculated move to gain any personal benefit.

In response, the council said that while the conduct may have been unsophisticated, “an assertion that the offending was not planned nor calculated was at odds with the admitted facts”.

It added it “should be seen against the applicant’s overriding and paramount duty to the court and to the administration of justice”.

“His conduct reflects poorly on the legal profession and its reputation and warrants a finding that the applicant is not presently a fit and proper person to hold a practising certificate,” the council told NCAT.

However, NCAT’s deputy president Stuart Westgarth and senior member Robert Titterton OAM said that putting aside the offending conduct, the evidence painted Payne “as a person who puts the interests of others ahead of his personal interests”.

“The number of referees willing to speak in his favour (knowing of the circumstances requiring their references) speaks favourably of the esteem in which he is held in the local community,” they said.

Westgarth and Titterton found the conduct to be a “one-off” and were satisfied Payne understands his duty as a lawyer.

“He acknowledges that he made a serious error of judgment, and the remorse is clear,” Westgarth and Titterton said.

“He acknowledges the damaging impact his conduct has had on his work colleagues, his staff, his family, citizens of Cobar, and, of course, his conduct has also damaged the legal profession and the administration of justice. Finally, by his conduct, the applicant has damaged himself both mentally and financially.”

Westgarth and Titterton found Payne was a fit and proper person, and he should be issued with a practising certificate when his community corrections order has been fully served.

However, conditions will include supervision, that he is not to practice as a sole practitioner, and to undertake education courses.

“All of these matters lead us to be confident that the applicant will not offend again, that he will maintain the appropriately high standards expected of him as a legal practitioner, and that, given his age, it would be appropriate to allow him some time to demonstrate that he is capable of conducting himself as a legal practitioner without further blemish,” the tribunal members said.