Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Konstantinidis (No. 3) [2020] NSWCATOD 91

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Konstantinidis (No. 3) [2020] NSWCATOD 91 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 20 February 2020 Decision date: 20 February 2020 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: D Fairlie, Senior Member P Moran, Senior Member J Schwager, General Member Decision: (1) The Solicitor is reprimanded. (2) The Solicitor is to pay a fine of $8,000 within 60 days. (3) The Solicitor is to undergo education as follows: (i) The Solicitor must at his own expense, complete within 6 months of the date of these orders (and during which the Solicitor holds a current practising certificate) (Period), appropriate courses in trust accounting and legal ethics (Courses) as approved by the Director Professional Standards of the Law Society (Director) and therein achieve in each a pass mark of not less than 50% (Pass Mark); (ii) The Solicitor will, within 7 days of receipt of notification of the result of his participation in the Courses, provide to the Director the original result notification from the provider of the Courses; (iii) Should the Solicitor fail to achieve the Pass Mark in each Course, he shall complete any further course in trust accounting and/or legal ethics approved by the Director until such time as he achieves the Pass Mark in any further nominated course; (iv) Should the Solicitor fail to achieve the Pass Mark within the Period, his practising certificate shall be suspended from the expiry of the Period until such time as he has achieved the Pass Mark. (4) An order that the Solicitor pay the Law Society's costs of the proceedings pursuant to Schedule 5, clause 23(1) of Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013, as assessed or agreed. Catchwords: PROFESSIONS AND TRADES - legal practitioner- where practitioner found guilty to have engaged in professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct – what is the appropriate penalty – reprimand- fine - educative orders Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Legal Profession Act 2004 (repealed) Cases Cited: Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v (Brent) Hedges [2018] NSWCATOD 149 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v (Stephen) Hedges [2018] NSWCATOD 150 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Kim [2017] NSWCA 292 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Konstantinidis [2019] NSWCATOD 104 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Lewis [2019] NSWCATOD 100 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Searle [2019] NSWCATOD 70 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Wehbe [2018] NSWCATOD 14 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Winter (No 2) [2019] NSWCATOD 57 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Adamson [2019] NSWCATOD 7 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Gallego (No 2) NSWCATOD 61 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Marando [2018] NSWCATOD 194 Council of the Law Society of NSW V Messiha [2019] NSWCATOD 32 Council of the Law Society of NSW V Powell [2019] NSWCATOD 24 Law Society of New South Wales v Dib [2019] NSWCATOD 15 Russo v Legal Services Commissioner [2016] NSWCA 306 Texts Cited: None cited Category: Principal judgment Parties: Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (Applicant)