› Custodial sentence for contempt — partial suspension
Legal profession
› Regulatory proceedings
› Manager appointed under Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (Vic)
Legal profession
› Duties of practitioners
› Obligation to comply with court orders as officer of the court
Quick Take
1Deliberate disobedience of a court order by a legal practitioner whose professional conduct is under regulatory scrutiny constitutes criminal (not merely civil) contempt where the breach is contumacious, and attracts heightened denunciation because it is an overt rejection of court authority by an officer of the court.
2Purging a contempt at the penalty hearing does not necessarily mitigate the penalty where compliance was extracted only after protracted resistance, was not accompanied by contrition, and the contemnor continued to challenge the validity of the orders even while nominally complying.
3Where a contemnor is an undischarged bankrupt with no dependants or gainful employment, a wholly suspended custodial sentence may be insufficient to achieve specific deterrence, and actual imprisonment — even if substantially reduced on account of advanced age — may be warranted.
