NCJ Number
139149
Date Published
1992
Length
54 pages
Annotation
This review of legislation that bears on the accountability of the legal profession in Victoria (Australia) considers regulatory structures and the advocate's immunity from legal liability for negligence.
Abstract
The commission identifies flaws in the regulatory structures for barristers and solicitors. There is a public perception of partiality in the regulatory structure; there is a lack of clear separation between the "prosecutorial" and adjudicative functions of the Bar Ethics Committee and a lack of openness in its activities; complainants who are aggrieved by decisions are unable to have those decisions independently reviewed; there is unfairness and inefficiency involved in forcing a client to pursue two separate complaint processes against a barrister and a solicitor when the complaint arises out of the same matter, and the client may be unable to assign responsibility for it between the barrister and the solicitor. The commission recommends that these defects be corrected by the creation of a combined Barristers and Solicitors Tribunal as the sole adjudicative body and a Legal Services Commissioner with the power to instruct the Secretary of the Law Institute or the Bar Ethics Committee to prosecute matters before the Tribunal. Regarding the current immunity of advocates from liability for negligent "in-court" work, the commission recommends that such immunity be abolished. 71 footnotes and an appended commission discussion paper on the advocate's immunity