Whose details can appear on my law practice’s letterhead/emails and business cards?

The qualifications and status of the persons engaged in a law practice should be represented accurately to any person who has dealings with the practice. This was explicitly stated in the (now repealed) Solicitors Rule 2007. There is no specific equivalent rule in the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules 2012 (Qld) ('ASCR') but there are relevant provisions to the same effect. Firstly, there is the fundamental ethical duty in rule 4 of the ASCR to be honest in all dealings in the course of legal practice. Secondly, by rule 36.1, to the extent that letterheads, business cards, signature blocks, etc. are ‘advertising, marketing or promotion in connection with’ a solicitor or law practice, they must not be false, misleading, deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive. Similar provisions in the Australian Consumer Law may also apply.

Section 25 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) prohibits a person from representing or advertising that they are entitled to engage in legal practice unless they have a practising certificate, and this includes doing anything that states or implies this status. See Legal Services Commissioner v Beames.¹

It is particularly important that the status of persons who are not legally qualified is made clear, to avoid any presumption or misunderstanding that they are legally qualified just by virtue of their association with the law practice. In the matter of Dean Phillip Bax,² the Solicitors Complaints Tribunal found that a managing law clerk had falsely held himself out to be a solicitor, and ordered that he not be employed by a law practice for 12 months. In Legal Services Commissioner v Bui,³ the practitioner was removed from the Roll of Legal Practitioners as he continually held himself out as a solicitor when he no longer held a practising certificate.

Appropriate descriptions for non-legally-qualified persons include:

•  ‘clerk', 'legal clerk', 'conveyancing clerk', 'litigation clerk', etc. but not 'conveyancer'; or
•  ‘law graduate’ if the person has a law degree.

For those undertaking the practical legal training course or a supervised traineeship, the above descriptions can be used and ‘supervised trainee’ can be used for those undertaking such a traineeship.

Incorporated legal practices should note the requirements of sections 88A and 153 to 155 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

Both incorporated legal practices and multi-disciplinary partnerships should note the disclosure requirements in ss 123 and 152 respectively of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld).

1 Legal Services Commissioner v Beames [2012] QSC 327.