The Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v FZK [2023] NSWCATOD 154

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: The Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v FZK [2023] NSWCATOD 154 Hearing dates: 19 October 2023 Date of orders: 27 October 2023 Decision date: 27 October 2023 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: Cole DCJ, Deputy President A Suthers, Principal Member E Hayes, General Member Decision: Having found the Respondent guilty of professional misconduct, our orders are as follows: 1. The Respondent is reprimanded. 2. The Respondent must undertake further education in accordance with these orders: (a) The Respondent is to undertake, complete and pass, at his own expense, within 6 months of the date of these orders (Time Period), a Legal Ethics Course that is approved by the Director, Legal Regulation (Director) and therein achieve a result of not less than 65% (Result). (b) The Respondent shall, within seven (7) days of receipt of notification of the result of his participation in the course, provide to the Director, the original of such notification. (c) Should the Respondent fail to achieve the Result in the course, he shall complete such further course (in which he may not have achieved the Result) as approved by the Director, until such time as he achieves the Result in the course within the Time Period. 3. The Respondent is fined $5000. 4. The Respondent is to pay the Applicant's costs of the proceedings. Catchwords: OCCUPATIONS — legal practitioners — solicitors — professional misconduct Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) Succession Act 2006 (NSW), s 6 Civil and Administrative Act 2013 (NSW) Cases Cited: Council of the Law Society of NSW v Alkhair [2022] NSWCATOD 111 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Hunter [2021] NSWCATOD 22 Council of the Law Society of NSW v Hunter [2021] NSWCATOD 22 Council of the New South Wales Bar Association v Butland [2009] NSWADT 177 Council of the NSW Law Society v Vaughan [2015] NSWCATOD 156 Law Society of New South Wales v Foreman (1994) 34 NSWLR 408 Law Society of New South Wales v Maharaj [2017] NSWCATOD 79 Law Society of New South Wales v Shad [2002] NSWADT 236 Law Society of New South Wales v Walsh [1997] NSWCA 185 Law Society of New South Wales v Whitting [2005] NSWADT 150 Legal Services Commission v Anderson [2015] NSWCATOD 56 Legal Services Commissioner v Huggett [2017] NSWCATOD 67 Legal Services Commissioner v Maddock [2021] NSWCATOD 46 NSW Legal Services Commissioner v Zou [2021] NSWCATOD 139 Russo v Legal Services Commissioner [2016] NSWCA 306 Xu v Council of the Law Society of NSW [2009] NSWCA 430 Texts Cited: None cited Category: Principal judgment Parties: The Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (Applicant) FZK (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: P Maddigan (Applicant)