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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3087 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The Supreme Court has not had, and does not have, the resources required to vet applications for admission from other overseas countries. The provision made in the Bill for New Zealand practitioners reflects the provisions currently made in the Act for the admission of overseas practitioners and is an expression of the closer economic relations agreement with New Zealand and a move towards an eventual trans-Tasman market in legal services.

The Act provides for a suitably qualified person to be able to be admitted by the Supreme Court to practise as a "barrister and solicitor". In line with the current move to standardise the terms and emphasise the unity of the profession in its provision of legal services, the Bill will amend the Act to provide for the admission of a person as a "legal practitioner". The Legal Practitioners (Consequential Provisions) Bill 1997 will amend other legislation to change the references in that legislation to "barrister and solicitor", "barrister", "solicitor", "advocate", and so on, to "legal practitioner" where appropriate.

The Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1997 will also amend the Legal Practitioners Act to provide that, where a solicitor holds $5,000 of a client's money, the solicitor is to seek instructions from the client as to the investment of that money if it is likely to be held for three months or more. Currently the Act requires a solicitor to seek instructions in respect of an amount of $1,000.

The Bill will also provide for the consolidation, and some refinement, of the provisions dealing with the conditions for the issue of a practising certificate; provide for review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of a decision of the Law Society as to the approval of a provider of, or the terms of, a professional indemnity insurance policy; and provide for simplification of the title of a partnership trust bank account, for requirements governing the issue of trust account receipts to clients and the administration of trust bank accounts.

The Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1997 advances moves towards a national and competitive legal service market in Australia and will enhance the regulation of the legal profession under the Act. I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Wood) adjourned.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (10.56): I ask for leave to present the Legal Practitioners (Consequential Amendments) Bill 1997.

Leave granted.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I present the Legal Practitioners (Consequential Amendments) Bill 1997.

Title read by Clerk.

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