Case Comment: John Michael Malins v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2017] EWHC 835 (Admin) 2017 WL 01339062 Summary: The facts of Malins v SRA 2017 are as follows: in 2013, the appellant provided his legal service to his client, had filed for After the Event Insurance policy to help cover against adverse costs. In 2012, the law changed under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and came into force on 1st April 2013 which stated under section 46 that claims after this date would no longer be entitled to recover the costs. However, you would only be able to recover such costs if a notice in form N251 had been given to the opposite party and filed at court. Although the appellant thought that he had given the required notice on the 19th of Match 2013, the other side affirmed during mediation, in January 2014, that they had not received any notice. Also, he was informed by his assistant that he failed to file with the court too. This lead the appellant to create a letter and a form N251 with a later date which he sent it to the other party and then subsequently relied on it during the settlement. In June of 2014, the appellant disclosed to the firm what he had done and then the firm reported it to the SRA in October 2014. After this occurred the appellant proceeded to make a self-report to the SRA as well. The SRA argued lack of integrity according to the creation of the letter and form. They also alleged that by relining on them the appellant had acted dishonestly. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the appellant guilty of dishonesty but he had also been charged with acting without integrity, and was struck of the roll. The appellant appealed against both conviction and sentence. Legal issue: The decision of the tribunal was that the appellant was found guilty of having acted with dishonesty when he relied on the documents, but not when he created them, here he was charged with lack of integrity. The court had to therefore consider what the definition of the words ‘dishonesty’ and ‘integrity’ was. Critical analysis: The lead Mostyn J to search for the definition of each word and found dishonesty to be “the reverse of honesty; lack of probity or integrity;” and
Analyze Luxford & Anor v Sidhu & 3 others [2007] NSWSC 1356 (3 December 2007) as follows:
Provided Case 09-3, we, Group 7 have dutifully researched the topic, using resources at our disposal to formulate a consistent, clear and legal response. The following submission outlines the case, our conclusions with supporting evidence and the accounting issues present in the subject.
Clegg case is the most recent and instructive dissertation on this vexed issue. The presiding judge, Justice Hoeben, referred to the previous case of Kilpatrick. There Foster J indicated that the obligations of the Tribunal are clearly satisfied if, in approaching the question of excessiveness, it has regard to matters in paragraphs (a) and following, in
The majority opinion undermined the parol evidence rule, rendered suspect instruments of conveyance absolute on their face, materially lessened the reliance which might be placed upon written instruments, and opened the door to new technique of defrauding
The Commission on the date of April 8, 2011 announced to the Tribunal and the alleged parties that is would not be involved in the hearing directly. They enclosed documentation and forwarded it to both parties concerning the information about legal council should they have any questions. A mediation date was set shortly after on April 19, 2011. At this point the Tribunal uses a courier service to contact all parties involved. This requires the recipient to sign for the documents being delivered. This presented an issue for the complainant from the beginning. The courier has history saved to record when a delivery is attempted and is either successful or unsuccessful. Throughout the entirety of this case, Labelle was unable to be contacted on over 5 attempts by the courier service.
Cases: A v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2005] UKHL 71; [2006] 2 A.C. 221 (HL) A v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHL 56;
The Different Ways in Which Unsatisfactory Work and Behaviour by a Barrister and a Solicitor Can be Dealt With
Both sides began presenting their information to the hearing officer. When it was our solicitor’s turn to speak his lack of preparation was obvious. He left out several pertinent details about Allan’s employment with the company and the events leading up to his being fired. I tried to quietly remind him of what he was forgetting and was quickly reprimanded by the hearing officer. After that, I sat quietly until the questions by the hearing officer were directed to me; I was careful to respond with only what was asked of
Another point of notable importance in this case is the articulation of a logical connection between the controversial matters. Neither the Act, nor the Code explicitly requires a practitioner to consider the implication of impending investigations of the administration prior to accepting an appointment. Honourable Justice Davies had regard to the concept referred to in Accord Pacific Holdings Pty Limited v Gleeson in which it was emphasised that the apprehension of a lack of independence and
there are exceptions. Of course there are a select few people somewhere in this country that are
Mr Crewe has acted unethically, knowingly that Crewe Sharp Pty Ltd was facing financial uncertainty; however he continued to operate even while the company was insolvent. Published within s 180-183 of the Corporations Act 2001,
The impact of Williams v Roffey Bros & Nicholls (Contractors) Ltd [1989] EWCA Civ 5 on the doctrine of consideration.
The issues were illustrated in 2012 in the case of Haulotte Australia Pty Limited v All Areas Rentals Pty Limited whereby the liquidator was required to investigate actions undertaken by the referrer prior to liquidation, and accordingly was removed due to the inability to maintain the required appearance of independence. Further to this in the case of Lehane J observed in Wood v Targett that;
I well remember two men who lived in our part of the county when I was a boy. One was rich (at least we thought he was) and the other was a share-cropper. One day the rich man drove by in a new automobile and the other said, “There goes a dishonest man.” And he may have been; I don’t know, but the idea was, “I’m honest and I don’t have a new automobile and so that means that he is dishonest.” But that is not necessarily so.
An applicant’s single act of misconduct can be sufficient to establish moral turpitude if it involved dishonesty and deceit. In Bernstein, Hayes Bernstein (“Bernstein”) applied for admission to the bar and was denied based on a pattern of moral turpitude, involving a divorce action where he forged his ex wife’s name on a check. Bernstein v. Comm. of Bar Exam’rs, 443 P.2d 570, 572. The court held that the bar applicant had engaged in moral turpitude based on deceit and dishonesty