Dalziel Lianne: Law Practitioners (Corporatisation) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Dalziel Lianne: Law Practitioners (Corporatisation) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:678] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Commerce) 
: 
 I am pleased to confirm on behalf of the Minister of Justice that the Labour caucus will support the referral of the bill to the Justice and Electoral Committee. However I am hopeful that the bill will not be required to be progressed beyond the passage of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill which is No. 16 on the Order Paper. The member may not have been aware that that bill has been reported back from the select committee. I had the privilege of sitting on the Justice and Electoral Committee and having a little bit to do with the detail and some of the amendments that went through it. 
I am certainly looking forward to the passage of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill because it contains some very important amendments to the law that a number of people are waiting for rather impatiently—like the Council of Legal Education and various others who have a great interest in progress being made—and I do hope that those who have been somewhat dilatory in their attitude towards the passage of the bill might well rethink that. 
In the meantime because there is no provision in the current law to allow for incorporation—so this is not a position that is inconsistent with our previous decision; the law does not provide for law firms to incorporate—we will enable a bill that would allow for incorporation to proceed to select committee. But again I am very hopeful that by the time the select committee has considered this bill the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill will have passed through all its remaining stages. 
The Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill itself deals with a workable regime for incorporated law firms. Maybe the member might like to clarify this in his right of reply but I understand that there are two differences between his bill and the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill—that is lawyers actively involved in the provision of regulated services are the only ones who can be directors of the company or hold voting shares under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill. Now that is not a limitation that the member would impose. The holding of non-voting shares under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill extends to the relatives of those who provide regulated services as well. So there is quite a distinction and maybe there is room to consider those issues. 
But the other issue that is probably of more concern to me as I come from a legal background is that as I understand it the member’s bill would allow multidisciplinary law firms which is contrary to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill. But again it would be good to have a clarification in the response from the member. I have been concerned for a long time that multidisciplinary practices compose risks as some types of occupations are quite incompatible with the professional standards that lawyers and conveyancers must comply with. I had quite a lengthy discussion about this in the select committee over the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill. When qualified lawyers are actually operating without a practising certificate as employment consultants or immigration consultants and they describe themselves as employment law specialists or immigration law specialists they acquire the standing amongst their client base who are in fact totally unprotected. 
We have strengthened the provisions in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill—which is why I would encourage the National Party to get on with supporting us in getting that through the House—around those who hold themselves out to have particular standards in order to comply with certain professional bodies’ requirements but do so by the nature of their description rather than the actuality. They certainly do not have practising certificates. 
Maintaining legal professional privilege in a multidisciplinary environment is also another problem. If the member could clarify that that certainly would be of great comfort. So the Government will support the bill’s referral to the select committee consistent with its objective of enabling law firms to incorporate but we do anticipate that the bill will not need to progress once the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill is enacted—something that we urge the National Party to assist us with.