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Fiji Law Society president Dorsami Naidu has been fined $1500 by the country’s Independent Legal Services Commission after being found guilty of professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct.
Naidu, a former Member of Parliament, has also been ordered by the commission to undertake 10 hours of study in the areas of conveyancing, real property and practice management with the syllabus to be approved by the chief registrar.
The study is to take place in Fiji, Australia or New Zealand before June 30, 2011 or Naidu will lose his licence, said commissioner John Connors.
The commission found Naidu guilty last week of two counts of professional misconduct and five counts of unsatisfactory professional conduct, in complaints brought against him by the chief registrar’s office.
He was also ordered to pay witness expenses totaling $1,428.
Out of 18 complaints against Naidu, two were withdrawn because of the unavailability of the complainants while seven were dismissed.
Under one of the complaints of unsatisfactory professional conduct, Connors said Naidu billed an estate the sum of $3,750 when the legal services rendered did not justify this amount “falling short of the standards of competence and diligence that a member of the public is entitled to expect of a reasonably competent or professional practitioner”.
In another instance, Naidu prepared a sale and purchase agreement for a 10-acre piece of land in Nadi, failing to inform the buyer that the land was co-owned.
Connors said Naidu’s conduct calls for a “small monetary penalty rather than a public reprimand in the light of the position he holds within the legal profession”.
“(His) conduct is in many respects concerning and whilst it does not display dishonesty it shows a lack of appreciation of practice management principles and the obligations of legal practitioners under the Trust Account requirements.
“There is also displayed a disturbing lack of understanding of conveyancing and real property principles.
Connors said these issues could be addressed by some further training.
By Richard Naidu
