Law Society of New South Wales -V- Bird [1998] ADT

Legal Services Division

CITATION: Law Society of New South Wales -V- Bird [1998] ADT

COMPLAINANT: Law Society of New South Wales

RESPONDENT: Patrick William Bird

Mr J Currie (Chairperson) ( Judicial Member ) TRIBUNAL: Mr G Foster Mr B Dyster

GROUNDS OF COMPLAINT: Professional Misconduct

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 12/15/1998

Complainant: Mr G Robinson Council of the Law Society of New South Wales LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Respondent: Mr I Wales

The Tribunal had before it an Amended Information filed on 17 March 1998. At the commencement of proceedings, Counsel for the Law Society informed the Tribunal that certain grounds contained in the Amended Information were not relied upon. Accordingly, the Information against the Legal Practitioner alleging professional misconduct was proceeded with on the following grounds:-

"2. The legal practitioner provided Messrs. H. and C. with a written advice dated 14 June 1995, which involved a substantial failure to reach reasonable standards of competence and diligence to be expected of a reasonably competent legal practitioner.

(a) was drafted in such a way so as to be capable of misleading SME (Southern Mitchell Electricity) that such advice was prepared for its benefit; (b) contained assertions of fact the legal practitioner ought to have known were incorrect; (c) contained assertions of fact which were unsupported by any material available to the legal practitioner; (d) contained assertions of law, which the legal practitioner ought to have known, were incorrect or alternatively were not reasonably available to the legal practitioner; (f) omitted matters of significance of which the Legal Practitioner ought to have known; (j) to the knowledge of the legal practitioner, was to be used by Messrs. H. and C. as an instrument of persuasion against SME and which advice did not contain appropriate qualifications or caveats which drew attention to difficulties which the legal practitioner perceived.