In Council of the New South Wales Bar Association v Loukas,1 the tribunal found the respondent guilty of professional misconduct for acting in an unprofessional, rude and intimidating manner towards a self-represented party in a matter involving domestic and family violence.
The decision illustrates the importance of being courteous in all communications and keeping professional obligations at the forefront when acting for family and friends.
The respondent acted for a relative who sought assistance with the separation from his wife. During the separation, the wife had left the husband a three-page handwritten letter asserting that she feared him and had been controlled by him for years.
The letter outlined a coercive and controlling relationship and the wife had pleaded to be left alone by the husband. At that time, the wife moved interstate to live with her parents. Correspondence with the husband was via her mother, who had noted that all communications were under the wife’s instruction.
Despite being aware of the nature of the relationship between the parties, the respondent sent a series of correspondence to the wife’s mother that used intemperate, pejorative, offensive and abusive language in suggesting that the mother was controlling of her daughter and acting in a fashion that was detrimental to her daughter’s health.2
The respondent demanded that the wife speak directly with his client and threatened defamation proceedings unless certain action was taken. Additionally, the respondent’s correspondence expressed personal views about the wife’s “allegations of domestic violence and had the potential to improperly interfere” with her decision making about her involvement in legal proceedings.3
The tribunal acknowledged that the respondent’s conduct represented a substantial departure from the maintenance of a reasonable standard of competence and diligence because the conduct was so far removed from the measured, temperate and rational correspondence one expects from a barrister.4
The conduct was instead peppered with personal attacks and personal views in relation to a person who the respondent knew was a vulnerable person. The tribunal noted that one should be able to expect the correspondence of a lawyer to be rational and reasoned; even where the surrounding circumstances are fraught with stress and anxiety.5
The respondent was also found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct by misrepresenting the nature of his relationship with the client to the Bar Association, in asserting that he was engaged in a private capacity and not in his capacity as the client’s barrister.
The respondent was reprimanded, fined, and ordered to undertake educative courses and to pay costs.
Practitioners are reminded of their duty to be professional and courteous in communications, particularly with regard to self-represented parties in domestic and family violence matters. Practitioners are referred to the following resources for additional guidance:
- Guidance-Statement No-09-Dealing-with-Self-Represented-Litigants
- Guidance-Statement No-23-Acting-for-Family-and-Friends
Footnotes
1 [2025] NSWCATOD 39.
2 Ibid [81].
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid [85].
5 Ibid.
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