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Melbourne lawyer avoids criminal charge for contempt of court
A Melbourne director and principal who was found to have committed two counts of contempt of court has avoided facing criminal charges but was warned against ignoring court orders in future.
Naomi Neilson
Jonathan Bowers-Taylor, director and principal of incorporated legal practice JBT Lawyers, was found to have committed contempt of court by failing to provide a manager appointed to his firm with software and other information despite an order of the court.
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The Victorian Supreme Court also found he had failed to permit the manager to remove a computer server.
Two charges of contempt of court were proved beyond reasonable doubt and one of them was not so proved.
The Victorian Legal Services Board said there was “no valid reason” for Mr Bowers-Taylor to prevent the manager from accessing the software – including by failing to provide passwords and to remove the computer server – and had hindered the manager’s work.
The board submitted that immediately following the manager’s appointment, Mr Bowers-Taylor’s attitude had become “dismissive and disrespectful” and he had left a hearing in early August before its conclusion and without first being excused.
Justice Timothy Ginnane said that at a minimum, practitioners “must not frustrate the proper work of a manager” and must cooperate to allow the manager to carry out their duties.
“The consequences of the contempts were important,” Justice Ginnane said in his recent judgment.
“Still less, of course, can practitioners, Australian lawyers, disobey orders of the court. Disobeying a court order is inconsistent with the status of an Australian lawyer as an officer of the court.”
The board sought that Mr Bowers-Taylor pay the costs of its summons on an indemnity basis and did not seek that the contempt be treated as a criminal contempt nor that a conviction for contempt of court would be appropriate.
Justice Ginnane agreed that an appropriate order would be the costs on an indemnity basis and fixed this in the sum of $22,090.67.
“However, if Mr Bowers-Taylor again refuses to cooperate with the manager by disobeying court orders again, the court would be likely to convict him of contempt of court and impose a more significant penalty than what I impose today,” Justice Ginnane said.
