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FACT SHEET
Legal Profession Amendment Bill 2018
The Legal Profession Amendment Bill 2018 (the Bill) amends the Legal Profession Act 2007 (the
Act) to clarify the powers and procedures to be applied in determining applications under section
458 of the Act.
Chapter 4 of the Act deals with complaints and discipline. The Act allows for complaints about
the conduct of a legal practitioner to be made to the Legal Profession Board (the Board), the
Disciplinary Tribunal (the Tribunal) or the Supreme Court (the Court). Whilst the Board can
make determinations and orders in relation to unsatisfactory professional conduct, the Tribunal
and Court can make determinations and orders about more serious matters of professional
misconduct.
In addition to dealing with applications to determine complaints made directly to them, the
Tribunal and Court can also undertake re-hearings of determinations made by the Board. This
is provided for in section 458.
The procedures and powers to be applied in determining section 458 applications in the current
Act are not clear. Whilst Part 4.7 of the Act provides the Tribunal with powers, these are
expressed to be in relation to applications made under that part of the Act. Section 458
applications do not fall under Part 4.7.
The Bill amends section 458 to provide that the Tribunal may determine an application made
under section 458 in accordance with Part 4.7 of the Act with the exception of specified
provisions that are not considered to be appropriate to re-hearing proceedings, i.e., sections 464,
466(7)(b), 467(5)(b) and 468.
In relation to section 458 applications made to the Court, the Bill clarifies that the Court can
determine its own practice and procedures.
The Bill also includes provisions to remove doubt about the validity of applications under section
458 made and determined prior to the commencement of the proposed amendments. Under
these doubts removal provisions an application under section 458 made prior to the
commencement of the amendments is taken to have been validly made if it was accepted by the
Tribunal or Court. The provisions clarify that the fact a section 458 application was determined
by the Tribunal in accordance with Part 4.7, is not, of itself, grounds for the determination being
invalid.
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