Major changes to the way complaints against lawyers are dealt with in Western Australia will occur under legislation introduced today by Attorney General Joe Berinson.
The Bill totally restructures the present system where the investigation of complaints against lawyers and the administration of discipline are conducted by a single body, the Barristers' Board.
The new system will separate the two parts of the process, and will also introduce non-lawyer community participation.
Mr Berinson said the Barristers' Board would be renamed the Legal Practice Board, retaining its role in the guidance and control of the profession, but without involvement in disciplinary functions.
A special complaints officer, supported by a complaints committee, would be responsible for investigating complaints, with the added power of being able to examine the conduct of practices at any time, whether complaints had been received or not.
This would assist in prevention by enabling the committee to detect emerging problems, and assist practitioners to correct them before they became a matter of public complaint.
Where it appeared a practitioner might have been guilty of illegal or unprofessional conduct or of neglect or undue delay, the matter would be referred to a new and separate disciplinary tribunal for judicial determination.
The tribunal - chaired by a judge, a former judge, or a legal practitioner qualified to be a judge - would have a much wider range of disciplinary options than presently existed, including powers related to making good the harm or inconvenience to the client.
The more serious disciplinary penalties, such as suspension from practice for more than two years or the ultimate penalty of being struck off the role of practitioners altogether, would remain matters for the Supreme Court.
Where such punishment might be warranted, the tribunal would transmit a report to the Supreme Court for action.
Mr Berinson said the move to allow community representatives who were not legal practitioners to be members of the complaints committee and the disciplinary tribunal would help ensure full public confidence in the disciplinary system. No person could be a member of both bodies.
Mr Berinson said the changes were in line with recommendations of the Clarkson Committee which inquired into the future organisation of the legal profession several years ago.
He said the Clarkson Report and a further report from a working party involving senior officials of the Law Society and the Barristers' Board, which was set up to consider the Clarkson recommendations, formed the basis of draft legislation released for public comment last year.
"Submissions received as a result of that exercise, particularly those from the Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court, the Barristers' Board, Law Society, and Bar Association, enabled us to make a number of improvements to the original Bill, resulting in the comprehensive legislation now being introduced," Mr Berinson said.
