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WA lawyer fails to block evidence from disciplinary trial
A Western Australian lawyer has failed to block the State Administrative Tribunal from reviewing evidence of a meeting in which he was alleged to have made false and misleading statements to the Legal Practice Board about his collapsed law firm.
Naomi Neilson
Sole practitioner Manraj Singh Khosa is facing potential disciplinary action over allegations that he provided false and misleading representations to the Legal Practice Board as part of an “attempt to avoid liabilities of his law firm” by setting up a new practice that was designed to take over his original firm.
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The statements were made during a 2015 meeting in which the Legal Practice Board planned to discuss the closure of his original firm. His wife recorded meeting notes in an almanac – the evidence in contention before the State Administrative Tribunal.
Mr Khosa claimed that the almanac protected matters of a third person and that the tribunal should be prohibited from permitting the disclosure of that material to any other person. He also submitted that the tribunal does not have the power to make orders for the almanac to be given to an expert to review its legitimacy.
The State Administrative Tribunal ruled that the personal information in question was “very brief”, was mostly redacted for the Legal Practice Board and “does not disclose a considerable degree of personal information”. It also ruled it had necessary powers.
“I have concluded that while the almanac contains some information that is, prima facie, personal information relating to third parties, the personal information is not exempt personal information and, is therefore, not protected matter,” it said.
More to come.
