Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Non-lawyers providing full (legal) services**


One issue that often arises is the liability of non-practicing lawyers and those advisers without any legal qualification who facilitate the provision of legal documentation.

Arguably, the leading case in this area is Legal Practice Board v Computer Accounting and Tax Pty Ltd [2007] WASC 184.

In this particular case, an accountant arranged for a trust deed to be bought for a client over the internet. The base trust instrument had been written by lawyers however, the accountant then populated the template.

In doing so, the court held that practically this meant that the accounting firm was breaching the relevant legislation. In all likelihood, the accountant would not be covered by their professional indemnity insurance in relation to any issues that arose out of the trust instrument.

Despite the proliferation of online providers, the decision in this case remains a very important one for any adviser facilitating legal solutions.

In many respects, it reinforces the approach adopted by firms such as ours who, while leveraging significantly off technology driven solutions, still ensure that all documentation is reviewed by a fully qualified, specialist lawyer, and where relevant, a certificate of compliance is provided confirming that all legal advice has been provided by the firm, and not the facilitating adviser.

As usual, please contact me if you would like access to any of the content mentioned in this post.

** for the trainspotters, the title today is riffed from the Art of Noise song ‘Backbeat’. Listen hear (sic):