Legal Profession Regulations 2018

Legal Profession Regulations 2018

19 November 2018

I, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, make the following regulations under the Legal Profession Act 2007.

These regulations may be cited as the Legal Profession Regulations 2018.

These regulations take effect on the day on which their making is notified in the Gazette.

In these regulations –

entity means a person or body;

named month means one of the 12 named months of the year starting with January;

the Act means the Legal Profession Act 2007.

For the purposes of section 7(1)(f) of the Act, the class of relationship prescribed is employment with a law practice.

This regulation applies to an associate of a law practice who is neither an Australian legal practitioner nor an Australian-registered foreign lawyer, if – section 8(4)(b) of the Act is applicable to the associate; and the home jurisdiction for the associate can be determined under neither subparagraph(i) nor subparagraph(ii) of that paragraph.

For the purposes of section 8(4)(b)(iii) of the Act, the home jurisdiction for the associate is to be determined in accordance with the following criteria:the jurisdiction of the associate's place of residence in Australia; if the associate does not have a place of residence in Australia, the jurisdiction of the associate's last place of residence in Australia.

Section 13(1) of the Act does not apply to government lawyers.

For the purposes of subregulation (1) – government lawyer means a person employed or engaged in legal practice – under the State Service Act 2000; or by a State, Territory or Commonwealth instrumentality; or by a local council; or in a State, Territory or Commonwealth statutory office.

In this regulation – Australian law means a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; employee, of an entity, means a person who is employed or engaged under a contract of service or contract for services in or by the entity whether or not – the person works full-time, part-time, or on a temporary or casual basis; or the person is a law clerk or article clerk; government agency means – a government department of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; or a body that is established by or under the law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory for a public purpose or to exercise governmental functions – and includes a body or organisation (or a class of bodies or organisations) prescribed by the regulations as being within the definition of government agency in section 91 of the Act.

For the purposes of section 15(2) of the Act, the kinds of persons specified in the third column of the table in this subregulation are persons who are entitled, in the circumstances specified opposite in the fourth column, to take or use a name, title or description specified opposite in the second column.

For the purposes of sections 59 and 82 of the Act, completion by a person of a period or periods of supervised legal practice equivalent to the required period of 18 months or 2 years is to be worked out by satisfying the requirements of this regulation.

The person satisfies the requirements of this regulation if the person completes – one period of supervised legal practice, worked on a full-time basis, that is equal to the required period worked out on a full-time basis; or one period of supervised legal practice, worked on a part-time basis, that is equivalent to the required period worked out on a full-time basis; or two or more periods of supervised legal practice, worked on either or both of those bases, that together are equal or equivalent to the required period.

For the purposes of this regulation – public holidays during a relevant period are to be included as days of supervised legal practice, whether or not the person engaged in legal practice on those days; and normal periods of leave taken during a relevant period by the person are to be included as periods of supervised legal practice.

For the purposes of section 88(2)(b) of the Act, the particulars referred to in subregulation (2) are prescribed as particulars to be included in the register kept under section 88 of the Act in relation to a local legal practitioner, except where the Board is required by subregulation (5) not to include them in the register.

The particulars to be included in the register are as follows:the name of the local legal practitioner; the date of admission of the practitioner; the type of local practising certificate held by the practitioner; the date on which the local practising certificate was granted or renewed; the name of the law practice of which the practitioner is an associate or, if the practitioner is not an associate of a law practice, the name of the entity of which the practitioner is a director, officer or employee or with which the practitioner is otherwise engaged in legal practice; the contact details of each office of the law practice or other entity in this jurisdiction; any other particulars about the practitioner, law practice or other entity that the Board considers should be included.

Contact details of an office are the following:its street address (the address where the office is physically located); its postal address (a post office box number and the location and postcode of the post office), if any; its DX address (the number of the exchange box in a document exchange (DX)), if any.

A local legal practitioner may, by notice in writing to the Board, request the Board not to include any or any specified particulars about the practitioner, law practice or other entity in the register, on the ground that special circumstances warrant the particulars not being publicly available (for example, if the safety or wellbeing of a person would be substantially affected by making the particulars publicly available).

If the Board is satisfied that those special circumstances exist, the Board is required not to include the particulars concerned in the register, unless the Board considers that the public interest in maintaining public access to the particulars outweighs any individual interest in the particulars not being publicly available.

The Australian Government Solicitor is prescribed as being within the definition of government agency in section 91 of the Act.

For the purposes of section 49 of the Act, the prescribed fee for an application for the grant or renewal of a local practising certificate is – if the applicant is the principal of a law practice, 818 fee units; or if the applicant is an employee of a law practice but is not a principal, 611 fee units; or if the applicant is solely engaging in legal practice in the manner of a barrister, 314 fee units; or if the applicant is an Australian-registered foreign lawyer, 314 fee units; or if the applicant is an employee of a community legal centre, 78 fee units.

For the purposes of section 51 of the Act, the following periods are prescribed for an application for the renewal of a local practising certificate:1 May to 31 May is the standard renewal period for the application;1 June to 30 June is the late fee period for the application.

For the purposes of section 52 of the Act, the prescribed late fee for an application for the renewal of a local practising certificate is to be no more than – if the applicant is the principal of a law practice, 187 fee units; or if the applicant is an employee of a law practice but is not a principal, 141 fee units; or if the applicant is solely engaging in legal practice in the manner of a barrister, 93 fee units; or if the applicant is an Australian-registered foreign lawyer, 93 fee units; or if the applicant is an employee of a community legal centre, 25 fee units.