A legal practitioner's subjective belief that a costs agreement does not contravene statutory fee limits affords no defence to a charge of professional misconduct where the belief is unreasonable and contrary to the facts. The D'Alessandro principle — that charging on a reasonably arguable but wrong basis cannot constitute unprofessional conduct — does not apply where the practitioner's belief has no proper foundation and is not based on a genuine question of statutory construction. Sustained failure to pay employee superannuation contributions over an extended period, particularly where non-compliance is drawn to the practitioner's attention, can constitute professional misconduct as demonstrating indifference to fiscal obligations arising from legal practice. The existence of statutory consequences for non-compliance with a client's request for an itemised account does not negate the professional conduct obligation to provide one.
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