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LEGAL PROFESSION ACT 1987 - SECT 56 Secrecy

This legislation has been repealed.

LEGAL PROFESSION ACT 1987 - SECT 56

Secrecy

56 Secrecy

(1) A trust account inspector or an investigator shall not, unless making a requirement under section 55 (3), and his or her assistant shall not, make an unauthorised disclosure of:
(a) the appointment of the trust account inspector, investigator or assistant,
(b) any matter that comes to his or her notice in the course of the inspection or investigation, or
(c) anything in the trust account inspector's or investigator's report.
Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units.
(2) Subsection (1) is not contravened if:
(a) a trust account inspector or an investigator discloses anything to his or her assistant, or
(b) a trust account inspector's or an investigator's assistant discloses anything to the trust account inspector or the investigator.
(3) A member of the Law Society Council or a solicitor, officer or agent of the Law Society shall not make an unauthorised disclosure of:
(a) the appointment of a trust account inspector or an investigator or a trust account inspector's or an investigator's assistant, or
(b) anything in a trust account inspector's or an investigator's report.
Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units.
(4) Subsection (3) is not contravened if:
(a) a trust account inspector or an investigator states in his or her report that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct, improper conduct or irregularity in relation to the affairs inspected or investigated, and
(b) a member of the Law Society Council, or a solicitor, officer or agent of the Law Society, discloses information in the report to a person to whom the Law Society Council decides that the information should be disclosed.
(5) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (3) but without affecting subsections (2) and (4), a disclosure is an unauthorised disclosure if it is made to a person other than:
(a) the Attorney General,
(b) a member of the Law Society Council,
(c) a solicitor, agent or officer of the Law Society,
(d) the Supreme Court,
(e) the Commissioner or the Tribunal,
(f) a member of the police force, or
(g) a person to whom a copy of the report is required by this Act to be sent.
(6) Subsections (1) and (3) do not prevent a person referred to in those subsections from disclosing to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission particulars of the conduct of a solicitor in respect of any regulated mortgage (within the meaning of Part 9).