Legal Services Board

I filed a complaint with Victorian Legal Services Board and was advised to raise concerns in the Cost Court in Supreme Court of Victoria. I spent additional $58,921.02 in Cost Court and had the following finding: 1) KHQ has not complied with sections 174 and 175 of the LPUL. 2) KHQ has charged $501,965.09 incl of GST. 3) Costs Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria has assessed at $430,000 incl of GST. 4) KHQ has overcharged $71,976.09 5) KHQ has been ordered to pay costs $27,255.40 of Applicant to have the matter dealt with Costs Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria I went back to Victoria Legal Services Board again and requested investigation. After 4 months and few calls I finally got a response that they will consider investigating. I felt like VLSB was annoyed I went back to them.

If you - like me, have had the great misfortune of being a victim of an egregious lawyer, then you also shouldn't necessarily expect the Victorian Legal Services Board (VLSBC) to restore you some justice. This statutory body which claims in it's own service charter - to exist To maintain and enhance public trust and confidence in the legal profession in Victoria has (in reality) aptly demonstrated (to me at least) that it has scant interest in pursuing lawyers for Professional Misconduct, even when presented with irrefutable evidence that alleged misconduct has occurred, as was the case with myself. Apparently, the mere fact that I was swindled out of almost $30,000 because of the demonstrably and purposely wrong legal advice provided by my lawyer made no impression on VLSBC, whatsoever. Unfortunately, the Uniform Law which governs and empowers this statutory body, and further gives them the power to pursue and prosecute lawyers for Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct and/or Professional Misconduct does not necessitate that they do so. Whether or not they do anything is solely left to it's bureaucrats. It is my sad belief that this is predominantly a socio-politically driven organization that has scant interest in performing its core duty without fear or favour - what the Victorian Public would reasonably expect to be its primary purpose. They justify their inaction with their bureaucratic nonsense such as "our approach is inquisitorial and is informed by our Compliance & Enforcement Policy, our Risk Outlook and our Regulatory Approach". And then, if this fails to make any impression on the complainant, they simply inform you that your complaint fails to meet their threshold. Of course, they won't explain what this threshold actually is. Every Victorian who has utilized the services of the Legal Profession should feel total and furious outrage by the knowledge that Victorians are actually afforded zero protection from a statutory body that was formed (as a result of an act of parliament) to regulate the law profession AND TO PROTECT THE CONSUMER. It is my belief that the Law Profession (at large) is aware of this high bar set for the complainant, and unscrupulous Legal Practitioners exploit this.

This year marked the annus horribilis for institutions we must hold accountable. It seems The Royal Commission has missed one right here - the Legal Services Board. It is unacceptable if we have to deal with artificial people hiding behind corporations, shirking responsibilities, causing more stress than they help to open up much needed conversations. It's time we looked beyond individuals, and at corporate responsibility, corporate design, corporate practices, policies and procedures that are inherently calculated and apt to mislead or indeed take advantage of vulnerable consumers. My experience with the LSB lead me to conclude the questionable independence status of LSB in upholding its service charter (which there isn't one on lsbc.vic.gov.au). And, that LSB looks after complaints of its paying registered lawyers at the expense of protecting public interest. To Rosa Reynolds and Michael Mealy, I need you to be the light, instead of being a blight, to the people whose lives you are going to touch going forward.

In 2009 The Victorian Ombudsman George Brouwer conducted an own motion report on The Victorian Legal Services Commissioner. He made 28 recommendations on how the organisation could improve. Unfortunately that report has been kept secret from the Victorian Public by the current Victorian Ombudsman. Mr Brouwer dedicated three pages to that report in his 2009 Annual report which focused on Transparency, Fairness, Accountability and Integrity.

The LSC do not appear to be independent and support/facilitate the egregious, unethical and abhorrent behaviour of solicitors in this state. The LSC refuses to enforce costs agreement requirements by solicitors. Time to clear the swamp that is Victoria’s “LSC” and get an independent referee that supports the interests of the public rather than being a support system for solicitors! ZERO STARS.