Annual ReportProfessional Standards
Guidelines
Closing, Storage and Destruction of Files
Financial
Services Reform - Do you require a licence?
Professional
Conduct Rules (pdf format)
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Trust Account
Articles
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The Section
The Professional Standards section of the Law
Society has several responsibilities which include:
·
Setting professional and ethical standards;
Advising and
assisting legal practitioners and members of the public with queries on a
variety of professional and ethical issues;
Regulatory
functions in relation to legal practitioners' trust accounts:
o
Monitoring and inspection;
Education
o
Supervision and management where appropriate;
·
Receiving and considering claims made against
the Legal Practitioners Guarantee Fund where there has been a
professional or fiduciary default by a legal practitioner.
·
Referral of disciplinary matters to the relevant
authorities and, in certain circumstances, instituting proceedings in the
Supreme Court to suspend or strike off legal practitioners.
The Professional Standards section comprises four legal practitioners (the Director, two senior solicitors and a solicitor/trust account regulatory officer), two accountants and two administrative assistants.
The Law
Society of
Contact: Telephone: (08) 8229 0229
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Financial Services Reform - Do you require a licence?The Financial Services Reform legislation
came into full effect on 11 March 2004.
You should give consideration to the effect
this legislation may have on your legal practice. |
Professional Conduct RulesThe South Australian Professional Conduct Rules (based on the national model) were approved by the Council of the Law Society on 3 February 2003 and came into operation on 1 March 2003. The rules may be downloaded here, Rules of Professional Conduct & Practice (pdf format).
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Ethics and Professional ResponsibilityText books (available in the Law Society's Murray Information Resource Centre)
Lawyers Professional
Responsibility in
Ethics in Law: Lawyers Responsibility and
Accountability in
Professional Standards articles
from the Law Society Bulletin
Unpaid fees and third party obligations - January
2004
Potential
pitfalls for practitioners seeking to recover fees - November 2003
Storing wills and client documents - October 2003
Acting for more than one party
- Professional Conduct Rules, Rule 8 - August 2003
Professional
Conduct Rules - Rule 10 - June 2003
Help with
the new Professional Conduct Rules (Rule 9) - May 2003
Privacy in
Practice - April 2003
Practitioners
and Privacy - February 2003
Referral,
Commissions and Sharing Profits - December 2002
Financial
Transactions Act Audits - September 2002
Has
Professional Courtesy Died? - May 2002
Retention
of Documents and Files - March 2002
Financial
Transaction Reporting - June 2001Succession Planning for Practitioners - May 2001
Telephone:
08 8229 0229
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Publications available for purchaseLaw Society Trust Account Receipt Book -
200 A5 receipts, hard cover $38.50 (incl GST)
Why does the
Law Society insist on these pettifogging bureaucratic requirements about
my trust account? - October 2003
Frequently Asked QuestionsLegal Services Commission AssignmentsI have a
client who is being funded by the Legal Services Commission. The
Commission requires a contribution by him of $50.00 and he has brought
that in today. I have already seen him and given him some advice and
helped him to fill out the form for funding.
Can I put the money into the
office account?
Combined Trust AccountMy calculations suggest that I should have paid $12,500 into the Legal Practitioners Combined Trust
Account for the last period. But I needed the money to pay out some
claims, so I did not make the deposit.
Trust account software packagesMy practice is getting bigger
and I want to buy some trust account software to make life easier.
Computer programs for trust accountsI use MYOB (or QuikBooks) for
my office accounts.
Drawing of cheques for feesI understand that I have to prepare
and deliver my bill to the client before I can draw the money for my fees
from the trust account. But I would like to be able to tidy everything up
when I'm doing the bill.
Disbursements
Resources
Statutory
declaration for sending unclaimed moneys to Treasury
Telephone: 08
8229 0229
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Legislation
Legal Practitioners Act 1981
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GeneralThe Professional Standards
Section has a significant number of resources and references.If you have
questions relating to:
Confidentiality
The process of strike-off or
suspension of legal practitioners
Legal practitioners' duties to
clients
Legal practitioners' duties to
the court
Other ethical or professional
responsibility issues
Trust accounts
·
Legal Practitioners Guarantee Fund
Telephone: 08 8229 0229
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