Queensland Consolidated Acts

LEGAL PROFESSION ACT 2007 - SECT 26

26 Associates who are disqualified or convicted persons

(1) A law practice must not have a lay associate whom any principal or legal practitioner associate of the practice knows to be either of the following unless the lay associate is approved by the law society under subsection (2) —

(a) a disqualified person;

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

(2) The law society may, on application, approve a person as a lay associate for this section.

(3) An approval under this section may be subject to stated conditions.

(4) If the law society refuses an application mentioned in subsection (2) or imposes a condition on the approval—

(a) the law society must give the applicant an information notice about the decision to refuse the application or to impose the condition; and

(b) the applicant may apply, as provided under the QCAT Act , to the tribunal for a review of the decision.

(5) A disqualified person, or a person convicted of a serious offence, must not seek to become a lay associate of a law practice unless the person first informs the law practice of the disqualification or conviction.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.

(6) This section does not apply in circumstances prescribed under a regulation.

(7) In this section—

"lay associate" , in relation to a law practice, includes a consultant to the law practice, however described—

(a) who is not an Australian legal practitioner; and

(b) who provides legal or related services to the law practice, other than services prescribed under a regulation.

Note—

The term ‘lay associate’ is also defined in section 7 (3) .