The Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Kearns [2011] NSWCA 394

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: The Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Kearns [2011] NSWCA 394 Hearing dates: 8 December 2011 Decision date: 15 December 2011 Before: Campbell JA at 1 Young JA at 2 Sackville AJA at 3 Decision: 1. Declare that the Opponent is guilty of professional misconduct in that he engaged in conduct between 30 September 1994 and 18 May 1995, for which he was convicted in the District Court of New South Wales of nine indictable offences, on 18 December 2002, namely: (i) four counts offences of knowingly and dishonestly with intent to gain advantage made improper use of position as a company officer, contrary to ss 232(6) and 1317FA(1) of the Corporations Law 1991 (NSW), being offences under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) by virtue of s 1401 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); and (ii) three counts of offences of dishonestly obtain valuable things, contrary to s 178BA of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW); and iii) two counts of offences of make false misleading statement with intent to obtain valuable thing, contrary to s 178BB of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). 2. Declare that the Opponent is not a person of good fame and character. 3. Declare that the Opponent is not a fit and proper person to remain on the Roll of Legal Practitioners of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. 4. Order that the name of the Opponent be removed from the Roll of Legal Practitioners of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. [Note: The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provide (Rule 36.11) that unless the Court otherwise orders, a judgment or order is taken to be entered when it is recorded in the Court's computerised court record system. Setting aside and variation of judgments or orders is dealt with by Rules 36.15, 36.16, 36.17 and 36.18. Parties should in particular note the time limit of fourteen days in Rule 36.16.] Catchwords: LEGAL PROFESSION - solicitor convicted of serious offences of dishonesty - whether order should be made to remove solicitor's name from the Roll of Legal Practitioners - extent to which particulars of misconduct supported by evidence of the convictions Legislation Cited: Corporations Law 2001 (Cth)