Council of the Law Society of NSW v Adamson [2019] NSWCATOD 7

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Council of the Law Society of NSW v Adamson [2019] NSWCATOD 7 Hearing dates: 13 December, 2018 Date of orders: 02 January 2019 Decision date: 02 January 2019 Jurisdiction: Occupational Division Before: The Hon F Marks, Principal Member M Sindler, Senior Member M Bolt, General Member Decision: Consequent upon the finding of professional misconduct which we have made, we make the following orders; (1) That the name of the respondent Luke Jerome Adamson be removed from the roll of persons admitted as lawyers maintained by the Supreme Court of NSW under the Legal Profession Act 2004. (2) That the respondent pay a monetary fine of $10,000 (3) That pursuant to section 64 of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act the publication of the names of the wife and children of the Respondent and of any person who was a client of the Respondent and of any information which might tend to identify any such person is prohibited. (4) That the respondent pay the costs of the applicant assessed in default of agreement. Catchwords: Legal practitioner- deficiencies in trust account and other matters – admission that guilty of professional misconduct- Instrument of Consent-refusal to make orders sought by consent-protective orders made – costs order made Non-publication order- principles of open justice-application to suppress name of respondent refused-non-publication orders made limited to family and clients. Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW) Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act Civil and Administrative Tribunal Rules 2014 Cases Cited: Council of the New South Wales Bar Association v Breeze [2015] NSWCATOD 152 Council of the Law Society of NSW v DOO [2018] NSWCATOD 173 Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v CZD [2017] NSWCATOD 31 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Council of the Law Society of NSW (Applicant) Luke Jerome Adamson (Respondent) Legal Services Commissioner of NSW (Intervenor) Representation: Counsel: P A Madigan (Applicant) L Adamson (Self Represented) (Respondent)