Paragraphs (a) and (b) of s 421(1) of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Tas) are alternative, not cumulative, routes to a finding of professional misconduct. A finding under s 421(1)(a) does not require the conduct to be sufficiently serious to call into question the practitioner's fitness to continue in practice; that consideration belongs to s 421(1)(b). A legal practitioner who offers to settle a civil dispute on terms conditional upon the withdrawal of criminal complaints pending before a court is guilty of professional misconduct under s 421(1)(a), regardless of client instructions or the practitioner's belief in the client's innocence.
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