Good lawyers know this.?? They don't break these rules.?? Thank you to a good lawyer who put this memorandum together for you on the blog
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This memorandum sets out a few brief examples (there are
many others) of the attitude of the Courts and various disciplinary bodies to
solicitors found guilty of wrongfully certifying or dating documents or
otherwise making false or misleading statements to others.
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In the New South Wales case of Demetrios v Gikas Dry Cleaning Industries
Pty Ltd (1991) 22 NSWLR 561, the NSW Court of Appeal considered the
position of a solicitor who had signed a mortgage as witness to the signatures
of both husband and wife, although the wife was not present when the document
was purportedly witnessed by the solicitor. Two of the judges (at 565) stated
that the solicitor?s conduct conveyed ?a material misrepresentation to the
solicitor for the vendor?. The Legal Profession Disciplinary Tribunal then held
in Re Demetrios [1993] 3 LPDR 3 at 6
that ?The conduct of the solicitor in signing his name as witness of a
signatory on documents that were not signed by that signatory in his presence
is clearly conduct which would be regarded as disgraceful and dishonourable by
solicitors of good repute and competency.?
In another New South Wales case with similar
facts, Law Society of New South Wales v
Georgas [2008] NSWADT 82 at [38], the tribunal agreed with the submission
of the Law Society of New South Wales that ? ?any solicitor who purports to
witness a signature of a person in circumstances where the solicitor does not
see the person whom the signature purports to represent sign a document?must be
prima facie guilty of conduct which, on any definition, can only be described
as professional misconduct.?
In a Queensland case, Attorney-General v Bax [1999] 2 Qd R 9, where a solicitor, among
other things, ante-dated a deed of loan and deceived a creditor?s meeting, one
of the judges of the Queensland Court of Appeal remarked, ?The spectacle of a
solicitor, who was chairman of the meeting, falsely asserting a date for the
execution of an instrument is one that is not likely to be readily forgotten by
the large number of business people who were present on that occasion. It
conveys a very poor image of the honesty and integrity of solicitors and so
tends to bring the whole profession and its standards into disrepute.?
Legal
Services Commissioner v Ramsden [2006] LPT 010 (Queensland Legal Practice
Tribunal) was a case where a solicitor was reprimanded and fined for
post-dating a mortgage to avoid stamp duty penalties.
Prothonotary
of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Chapman (CA (NSW) 14 December
1992, unreported, BC9201419) was a case where the solicitor made false
declarations in registering a business name, and allowed clients to use false
names in accounts. Apparently the solicitor did this to protect his prostitute
clients from harassment. However the Court said (at 20) that this conduct ?was
not the conduct expected of a solicitor?.
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General conclusions cannot be drawn without looking at the
individual circumstances of each case.?
However it is reasonable to say as a general proposition that lawyers
are expected to act with candour and honesty in their dealings with others, and
this outweighs their responsibilities to their clients.? As remarked in one of the leading Australian
textbooks on lawyers? professional conduct, which cites the cases referred to
above, and numerous others: ?Although making false or misleading statements to
the court clearly strikes at the heart of the administration of justice, for a
lawyer to knowingly or recklessly make false or misleading statements to
persons other than the court ? whether to a client, an opponent, a professional
body or other tribunal, or otherwise a person who relies on those statements ?
is likewise indicative of dishonesty. It therefore amounts to professional
misconduct, or at least unsatisfactory professional conduct.? Riley Solicitor?s Manual ?[35,035].
Source: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/why-you-should-have-faith-in-the-legal-profession.html
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Paul Douglas, the main Meteorologist for Weathernation TV, Star Tribune?s On Weather with Paul Douglas, on October 25th@1PM stated;
