What it does
The Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (the Application Act) primarily applies the Legal Profession Uniform Law (the Uniform Law), set out in full in Schedule 1, as a law of Victoria (s 4). It does so by designating local regulatory authorities, tribunals, and funds to administer the Uniform Law's provisions in this jurisdiction (ss 10-18). The Uniform Law itself establishes a harmonised national framework for the regulation of the legal profession, covering admission to practice (Part 2.2), practising certificates and registration of foreign lawyers (Part 3.3), trust money and trust accounts (Part 4.2), legal costs (Part 4.3), professional indemnity insurance (Part 4.4), fidelity cover (Part 4.5), and complaints, discipline, and external intervention (Chapters 5 and 6).
The Application Act complements this with Victoria-specific machinery. It establishes the Victorian Legal Admissions Board (ss 19-27) to handle admissions (s 10(1) Table 1 item 2), continues the Victorian Legal Services Board (s 28) as the primary local regulatory authority for most functions (s 10(1) Table 1), and creates the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner to investigate complaints (s 48, s 10(1) Table 1 items 7 and 10). It designates VCAT as the tribunal for most disciplinary and review matters (s 10(3) Table 2 item 1) and the Supreme Court for appeals and certain supervisory roles (s 10(3) Table 2 items 2, 5-6).
Key operational provisions include:
- Trust account requirements: statutory deposits into the Public Purpose Fund (ss 78-86), arrangements with authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) (s 87), and rules for approved clerks who hold barristers' trust money (ss 87A-90).
- Legal costs: continuation of the Legal Costs Committee (s 92), practitioner remuneration orders (ss 94-96), costs assessments by the Costs Court (s 16, s 97), and VCAT determination of costs disputes up to $25,000 (indexed) (ss 98-99).