Western Australian Consolidated Acts

LEGAL AID COMMISSION ACT 1976 - SECT 61

61 .         Rights and obligations of Director and staff in respect of legal practice

        (1)         Subject to the requirements of the Legal Profession Act 2008 and the legal profession rules made under that Act (including the requirements as to the holding of practising certificates) the Director or a member of the staff who is a legal practitioner shall, when acting in the discharge of his duties under this Act, — 

            (a)         be entitled to practise as a legal practitioner and to perform the functions of a legal practitioner in the State and in any court in the State; and

            (b)         have a right of audience before any court in the State, or before any tribunal in the State before which a legal practitioner has such a right.

        (2)         In practising as, or performing the functions of, a legal practitioner, or exercising any right of audience, in the discharge of his duties under this Act — 

            (a)         the Director has all the rights and privileges of a legal practitioner who is a sole practitioner or a partner or director of a law practice;

            (b)         a member of the staff has all the rights and privileges that he would have if the Director was a law practice and the member of staff was employed by the law practice;

            (c)         the Director or a member of the staff — 

                  (i)         shall observe the same rules and standards of professional conduct and ethics as those that a private practitioner is, by law or the custom of the legal profession, required to observe in the practice of his profession;

                  (ii)         is subject to the same professional duties, and has the same privileges, as those that a private practitioner has by law or the custom of the legal profession;

                  (iii)         is subject to the same disciplinary procedures and sanctions as those to which a private practitioner is subject.

        (3)         Nothing in this section affects any right to practise as, or perform the functions of, a legal practitioner, or any right of audience, that the Director or a legal practitioner who is a member of the staff has apart from this section.

        (4)         Part 9 of the Legal Profession Act 2008 does not apply to or in relation to the Director or a legal practitioner who is a member of staff.

        [Section 61 amended by No. 65 of 2003 s. 47(9), (10); No. 21 of 2008 s. 674(28)-(31).]