Review of the Legal Profession Act Final Report


Glossary


GLOSSARY


A number of abbreviations and technical terms are used in the report, as set out below.

ACCC: the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

ADT: Administrative Decisions Tribunal

ICA: the Insurance Council of Australia

LAC: the Legal Aid Commission

LSC: the Legal Services Commissioner

LPAC: the Legal Profession Advisory Council

Legal Services Tribunal: The report refers to the former Legal Services Tribunal, which was the forum for determining conduct matters involving solicitors and barristers. On 1 October 1998 the Legal Services Tribunal became the Legal Services Division of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT), established under the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997. While the substantive powers of the Tribunal are generally unchanged, the integration of the Legal Services Tribunal into the Administrative Decisions Tribunal has altered its procedural powers. These changes are referred to, where relevant, in the report. This report continues to refer to the Legal Services Tribunal because submissions were made before the establishment of the ADT.


MDPs: multi disciplinary partnerships, in which solicitors form partnerships with non-solicitors.

NCOSS: New South Wales Council of Social Service

OPC: the Office of the Protective Commissioner

PIAC: the Public Interest Advocacy Centre

LawCover: the company which manages the provision of professional indemnity insurance to solicitors.

‘the Rules’: Solicitors’ Rules and Barristers’ Rules, which are made under the Act by the Law Society Council and Bar Council respectively.

‘Solicitor and barrister’: the Act provides for a person who holds a practising certificate issued by the Law Society to call himself or herself a ‘solicitor and barrister’, or ‘solicitor’. A person who holds a practising certificate issued by the Bar Association can call himself a ‘barrister’. The text refers to ‘solicitors and barristers’, and ‘barristers’, where the titles which may be used by members of the profession are discussed.