Peter Livers: Slattery Thompson lawyer accused of WorkCover scam

A hot-shot of Sydney’s legal profession is facing a career-ending professional misconduct charge of mishandling thousands of dollars from WorkCover.

Lawyer Peter Livers.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: On December 10,2020 the Court of Appeal set aside the Civil and Administration Tribunal decision of November 27, 2019 and dismissed the application by the Legal Services Commissioner for disciplinary findings and protective orders against Mr Livers.

The court concluded Mr Livers’ actions crossed the threshold of professional misconduct. Mr Livers conceded to the court that he was “negligent” and that there was a “substantial failure” to maintain a reasonable standard of competence and diligence on his part.

However,the court found his actions did not amount to fraud, as was alleged by the Legal Services Commissioner.

A high-flying Sydney lawyer who once bragged about helping the needy is staring down the prospect of watching his legal career flushed down the drain after he was accused of scamming WorkCover.

The Legal Services Commissioner is attempting to have Peter Livers’ name removed from the NSW roll of lawyers after he was found by a tribunal to have committed professional misconduct, allegedly filing altered documents as part of an insurance claim he was working on.

In total, Eastwood-based solicitor Livers billed WorkCover $3845 for his services on an industrial deafness case against Allianz. But after questions were raised about the documentation he had filed that figure was reduced and an investigation by the legal watchdog was launched.

Some of the paperwork had dates crossed out and changed and WorkCover had sought an explanation about “what appeared to be an attempt to defraud the independent Legal Assistance Review Service”.

Livers, who has talked up his pro-bono work in the past, denies the majority of allegations against him.

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He was the principal at his firm Slattery Thompson since the 1980s and was nominated for the NSW Law Society President’s Award at the 2017 Justice Awards.

“You get a great feeling of pleasure when the pro bono client appreciates even a small amount of legal help,” he told the Australian Pro Bono Centre last year of his work with the “needy” desperate grandmothers.

The Legal Services Commissioner, on top of a public reprimand, is also asking that Livers be fined for his conduct.

The Civil and Administration Tribunal returned a finding of professional misconduct last month, but will reconvene again in the new year to further hear the case.

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