Council of the Law Society of NSW v Hancock [2013] NSWADT 63

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Council of the Law Society of NSW v Hancock [2013] NSWADT 63 Hearing dates: 10, 11 and 12 December 2012 Decision date: 21 March 2013 Jurisdiction: Legal Services Division Before: M Chesterman, Deputy President M Riordan, Judicial Member E Hayes, Non-judicial Member Decision: 1. The Respondent is guilty of professional misconduct on each of the three Grounds of the Amended Application for Original Decision, except as alleged in subparagraph (ii) of Ground 1. 2. The proceedings are set down for further directions at 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday 26 March 2013. Catchwords: Solicitor - disciplinary application - purporting to act as solicitor without having been retained - false and misleading representations that retainer existed - obtaining fee as mortgage broker without entitlement Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Act 2004 Cases Cited: Allinson v General Council of Medical Education and Registration [1894] 1 QB 750 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Clapin (No 2) [2011] NSWADT 246 Law Society of New South Wales v MacKenzie [2003] NSWADT 92 New South Wales Bar Association v Cummins (2001) 52 NSWLR 279; [2001] NSWCA 284 Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Nikolaidis [2010] NSWCA 73 Texts Cited: Riley, Solicitors Manual Category: Principal judgment Parties: Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (Applicant) John Leslie Hancock (Respondent) Representation: Counsel S Barnes (Applicant) D Allen (Respondent) Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (Applicant) Hancocks Solicitors (Respondent) File Number(s): 122006