Council of the Law Society of NSW v McGuire (No 3) [2012] NSWADT 118

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Council of the Law Society of NSW v McGuire (No 3) [2012] NSWADT 118 Hearing dates: 6 June 2012 Decision date: 18 June 2012 Jurisdiction: Legal Services Division Before: The Hon Justice Haylen (Deputy President) N Isenberg, Judicial Member C Bennett, Non-Judicial member Decision: (1) Pursuant to the provisions of s 566(3) of the Legal Profession Act 2004, the Tribunal finds that special circumstances exist such as to warrant the Tribunal granting the respondent practitioner an order for the costs of and incidental to his defence of the allegation of professional misconduct brought by the Law Society of New South Wales. (2) The costs of and incidental to the respondent practitioner's defence of the allegations shall be paid from the Public Purpose Fund referred to in s 566 (3) of the Act. (3) The costs of the respondent practitioner are to be assessed by a costs assessor, subject to the following terms: (i) costs should include costs of and incidental to the proceedings; costs are to include the costs associated with the interlocutory hearing conducted on 25 March 2011; (ii) professional legal costs and disbursements should be allowed; (iii) the allowable expenses should include reasonable travel expenses incurred by the respondent in appearing before the Tribunal or in furtherance of the preparation of his case with lawyers instructed to act for him; (iv) the out-of-pocket expenses of the respondent reasonably incurred in defending these proceedings should be allowed but not including the payment of the "personal time" involved calculated by reference to rates for a senior lawyer; (v) the allowance of any lost opportunity costs able to be demonstrated by the respondent practitioner caused during the personal time he expended on the preparation of his case. Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Act 1987 Legal Profession Act 2004 Cases Cited: Atlas Corp Pty Ltd v Kalyk [2011] NSWCA 10 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v McGuire (No 2) [2012] NSWADT 63 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v McGuire [2011] NSWADT 133 Council of the New South Wales Bar Association v Osei (No 3) [2009] NSWADT 196 New South Wales Bar Association v Tedeschi (No 3) [2003] NSWADT 174 Category: Costs Parties: Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (Applicant) Ben McGuire (Respondent) Representation: Counsel C Webster (Applicant) Council of the Law Society of NSW (Applicant) B McGuire (Respondent in person) File Number(s): 102020