Ritchie v Clayton Utz [2010] NSWADT 80

CITATION: Ritchie v Clayton Utz [2010] NSWADT 80

DIVISION: Equal Opportunity Division

APPLICANT Alan Ritchie PARTIES: RESPONDENT Clayton Utz

FILE NUMBER: 091122

HEARING DATES: 2 February 2010

EXTEMPORE DECISION DATE: 2 February 2010 BEFORE: Hennessy N - Magistrate (Deputy President)

CATCHWORDS: Discrimination, complaint declined lacking in substance, application for leave to proceed

LEGISLATION CITED : Anti-Discrimination Act 1977

CASES CITED: Jones and Anor v Ekermawi [2009] NSWCA 388

APPLICANT In person REPRESENTATION: RESPONDENT D Hillard, solicitor

ORDERS: Leave is refused for the complaint to be the subject of proceedings before the Tribunal.

REASONS FOR DECISON

1 HER HONOUR: Mr Ritchie made a complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Board of disability discrimination in the provision of goods and services. The complaint was against the law firm, Clayton Utz who provides a legal clinic and referral service at Our Place on Stanmore Road in Enmore. Pro bono legal advice is provided to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Face to face advice is sometimes followed by referral to an appropriate legal provider. On other occasions Clayton Utz will enter into terms of engagement with clients to act for them in relation to certain matters.

2 In brief the nature of Mr Ritchie's complaint was that Clayton Utz did not enter into terms of engagement with him, in relation to any of the legal issues that he raised with them. He said that from the time he first attended the Centre, Clayton Utz staff were not intending to help him because he had a mental illness. The nature of Mr Ritchie's mental illness has been described by a consultant psychiatrist, Mr Parkinson, as an anxiety disorder with severe obsessional symptoms.