Legal sector levy proposed to increase legal aid funding

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Daily wrap  

• Law firm levy proposed to address Legal Aid funding crisis - Law Society Journal
   

  • Legal Aid funding in crisis – is there a fix? Launch of options paper - National Legal Aid

    “Our analysis has identified that Commonwealth funding via general revenue is the best option in addressing the current Legal Aid funding crisis. However, a legal sector levy, a social levy or a HECS style loan system could also be part of the solution. Australia’s eight largest law firms in 2023 had a total revenue of $5 billion and based on a 10,000 staff count this represents around half a million dollars per head. A legal sector levy could be structured so that higher-income firms pay a larger share with a reduced levy for those that do legal assistance work and those firms that do more than 20 per cent legal assistance work would pay no levy. This has the benefit of bringing in income, but also increasing the number of available lawyers for legal aid and other legal assistance work.”
     

• Australian Federal Police officer charged with perjury, concealing evidence and perverting the course of justice - ABC News
   

  • Brittany Higgins rape investigator suspended, faces charges | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site
     

• Rapid growth puts pressure on law partnership structures [AFR paywall]

  Almost two-thirds of new legal partners are now on a part-salary arrangement as rapid growth puts pressure on equity allocations.
   

• Victorian contractor allegedly altered hundreds of driving fines for crime gangs, court told | Victoria | The Guardian
   

• Rex Patrick loses appeal for faster FOIs in Federal Court | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT [Canberra Times paywall]
   

  • Patrick v Australian Information Commissioner [2024] FCAFC 93
     

• Good Guys in court after ACCC allegations [The Australian paywall]

  Discount warehouse The Good Guys is facing allegations of deceptive and misleading conduct over alleged problems with its ‘StoreCash’ promotion.
   

• Alleged member of Sydney terror network granted bail as magistrate brands Crown case 'weak' - ABC News
   
   

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• Download - Act of Grace Payments and the Constitution

  “This article focuses on a hitherto underexplored but increasingly important area of public expenditure: act of grace payments. Act of grace payments are voluntary, highly discretionary gifts of money made by the executive in the absence of any legal duty to do so. The expenditure on such payments in Australia has been significant, and a lack of transparency creates serious risks to integrity. Further, the cases of Pape v Federal Commissioner of Taxation, Williams v Commonwealth and Williams v Commonwealth [No 2] have transformed the constitutional framework for public expenditure. Accordingly, this article conducts a fine-grained analysis of the constitutional legality of act of grace payments at the Commonwealth, state and territory levels. The authors argue that there are significant constitutional issues with act of grace payments at the Commonwealth level, and that many state-based act of grace payments are likely to be illegal. To address these issues, and to reduce the risk that payments will be made illegally, the authors recommend several legislative and soft law changes”
   

• WA criminal lawyer booted from roll for conspiracy to pervert course of justice - Lawyers Weekly [paywall]
   

  • LEGAL PRACTICE BOARD OF WA -v- RODGERS [2024] WASC 247 (9 July 2024)
     

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