Knit one, pearl one

It's winter and the NSW bar 'n' grill gets out the knitting needles and balls of wool for a good old knitathon ... Brian Tamberlin, the O'Barrell government's power man, will provide a welcome boost to the Lawyers Full-Employment Act ... Solicitors who forge documents - it's worth the punt

The anticipation could not be greater as we count down to May 26.

That is the date for the inaugural meeting of the NSW Bar Association's Knitting Group.

This activity is being promoted by the Health, Sport and Recreation Committee of the Grill with the support of maestro P. Selth, a celebrity entangler of woollen substances. The plan is to "knit the Royal wedding".

Funnily enough, Attorney General Greg Smith is also a knitting fan, and he will be choosing the next CJ largely on the basis of demonstrable skills with needles and wool.

This counts Tom Bathurst out of contention. His efforts at knit one, pearl for a winter beanie were quite hopeless. [Oops. Ed.]

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Much rejoicing around Phillip Street at Brian Tamberlin's appointment by the O'Barrell government to run a big fat juicy inquiry into Labor's $5.3 billion sale of the state's electricity generation assets.

See our earlier coverage of this issue, Opinions galore

Reports to hand say that the show will run for at least six months and cost millions of dollars.

Fatty & Co want the truth about Labor's botched privatisation, and fortunately getting the truth can be expensive and time consuming. Many counsel will need to be on hand to represent the dozens of interests at stake.

At last, a much needed boost to the Lawyers Full-Employment Act.

And Tambo is just the man - being experienced in the commission of inquiry business.

At His Hon's passing out parade from the Federal Court in March 2009, we were reminded that he had been junior to Trevor Morling as counsel assisting the 1994 board of inquiry into the Size and Constitution of the Tasmanian Parliament.

The report very wisely recommended against a reduction of the size of the Tasmanian parliament, but if it was imperative that it should be shrunk then the report added that was also a possibility.

The Hare-Clark system gives rise to endless permutations.

In 2009, the UN passed over Tamberlin and Michael Kirby for positions on a new tribunal designed to tackle corruption and nepotism at the world body.

Justice Michael Adams was the successful candidate. Kirbs finished 10th in the ballot for a slot on the Appeals Tribunal with 64 votes, and Tamberlin cruised in last, with 18 votes.

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The latest disciplinary decision on a document fiddler comes from the Bureau de Spank in Victoria.

Melbourne solicitor Sharon Jeet Johal was slapped with wet lettuce after pleading guilty to one charge of professional misconduct after she was dobbed in for forging a medical certificate.

VCAT deputy prez M.F. Macnamara fined her $3,500, reprimanded her and ordered her to pay the Legal Services Commissioner's costs.

It's an instructive case.

Sharon told her employer at Melbourne law shop MDP McDonald on two occasions that she had a medical certificate for her day off work.

Johal: one or two hiccupsUltimately, she came up with a doctored version of an earlier sick certificate. The LSC said this was dishonest and amounted to professional misconduct.

Initially she said the charges against her were vexatious and should be dismissed because she had been bullied at work, a claim that evaporated at the hearing.

Johal also claimed to be receiving weekly counselling from a clinical psychologist. This turned out to be an over-egged version of the truth.

There was also a bit of recent history or, as deputy president Macnamara put it, "one or two hiccups".

At the time she applied to be admitted to practice there were allegations of plagiarism for a College of Law project.

She only just squeaked through the Board of Examiners with a warning that she should carefully watch her step in future.

Sixteen months later Johal lands in the soup again with the forged doctor's certificate.

After a lecture about integrity, honesty as indispensable necessities for a legal practitioner, Macnamara went on to impose the fine and reprimand.

Interestingly, he said she would have only got a reprimand had there not been a degree of "ambiguity" in admitting the offence and the previous plagiarism episode.

He also pointed out her forgery had not affected any client of the firm.

What was not disclosed is that according to a report in the Hindustan Times, Sharon was the Miss India Australia Glamour Queen title holder in 2007.

Maybe this was taken into account and partially explains the penalty.

A recent Queensland QCAT decision in LSC v Busch came up with a finding of dishonesty and professional misconduct for a young solicitor who had gingered-up his employment reference by deleting various paragraph he found unhelpful.

Penalty: reprimand and costs of $750.

Stephen Warne's Professional Liability Blog has the details.  

The important lesson is that solicitors can expect the wet lettuce treatment if they forge, tamper and concoct documents for their own benefit.