Kekatos v The Council of the Law Society of New South Wales

[1999] NSWCA 288

NSW Court of Appeal

View on CaseLaw

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

See how it works

Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Legal Profession
2. › Solicitors
3. › Practising without certificate
4. › Holding out as solicitor
5. › Acting as solicitor
6. › Whether conduct constituted acting as solicitor within meaning of Part 3A
7. › Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW), ss 48B(1), 48C(1), 48C(2), 48E(2)
1. Legal Profession
2. › Solicitors
3. › Practising without certificate
4. › Test for acting as solicitor
5. › Whether person did things usually done by solicitor in such a way as to lead to reasonable inference that person was a solicitor
6. › Distinction between activities lawfully performed by non-solicitors and activities constituting acting as solicitor
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Trial
3. › Fairness of trial
4. › Judicial intervention
5. › Whether frequency and nature of judge's interventions during hearing indicated closed mind
6. › Whether trial rendered unfair
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Trial
3. › Fairness of trial
4. › Judicial intervention
5. › Relevance of failure to object at trial to complaint on appeal
6. › Relevance of absence of ground of appeal

Quick Take

A person acts as a solicitor in contravention of Part 3A of the Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW) if they do things usually done by a solicitor in such a way as to lead to the reasonable inference that they are a solicitor, applying the Sanderson test as adopted in Law Society v Seymour. Merely holding money and disbursing it on behalf of another, being an activity often performed by non-solicitors, is insufficient without more to constitute acting as a solicitor. A judge sitting without a jury may intervene to control, clarify, or make known a provisional view, and the absence of objection by experienced counsel at trial is a significant indicator that the interventions were not inappropriate.