121Contravention by law practice—disqualified or convicted person as lay associate

121 Contravention by law practice—disqualified or convicted person as lay associate

121 Contravention by law practice—disqualified or convicted person as lay associate

(1) A law practice contravenes this subsection if the law practice has a lay associate whom any principal or other legal practitioner associate of the law practice knows to be—

(a) a disqualified person; or

(b) a person who has been convicted of a serious offence—

unless the lay associate is approved by the designated local regulatory authority under subsection (2).

Penalty: 100 penalty units.

(2) The designated local regulatory authority may, on application, approve a person as a lay associate for the purposes of this section. An approval may be given generally, or for a particular position or category of positions with a particular law practice, or for a particular category of positions with any law practice.

(3) In dealing with an application for approval of a person as a lay associate, the designated local regulatory authority may consider any relevant matters and must consider the following matters so far as they are relevant—

(a) the nature and circumstances of the person’s disqualification or conviction;

(b) the requirements and responsibilities of the arrangement or kind of arrangement under which the person is seeking to be employed or otherwise involved;

(c) the degree of connection between the person’s disqualification or conviction and the requirements and responsibilities of the arrangement or kind of arrangement.

(4) An approval may be granted unconditionally or subject to specified conditions.

Note

The designated local regulatory authority could consider a person’s application for approval as a lay associate at the same time as it decides not to grant or renew, or decides to suspend or cancel, the person’s Australian practising certificate.