Darwin silk’s foul-mouthed tirade against journalist was ‘not misconduct’, NT Law Society rules

A DARWIN silk who “aggressively” berated a journalist as a “c***”, a “f***ing fanny” and a “piece of shit” on the steps of Parliament House will not be disciplined as the tirade was not “in connection with the practice of law”

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A DARWIN silk who “aggressively” berated a journalist as a “c***”, a “f***ing fanny” and a “piece of shit” on the steps of Parliament House will not be disciplined as the tirade was not “in connection with the practice of law”.

The ruling comes after former NT News court reporter Craig Dunlop took a complaint against high profile barrister John Lawrence SC to the NT Law Society after the heated exchange in May 2019.

Mr Dunlop had testified at a Legislative Assembly committee hearing before the pair ran into each other outside and Mr Lawrence was caught on tape telling the reporter to “f*** off”.

“You’ve never done a day’s work in your life you f***ing piece of shit, f*** off, go on, f*** off,” Mr Lawrence is heard saying on the recording. “I’m a mad man, I’m a passionate Scot, I’m a hysterical woman,” he is heard saying.

John Lawrence SC speaks to the media about youth justice issues outside Parliament House in 2019.

In his complaint, Mr Dunlop expressed concern that other community members would be less willing to appear before parliamentary inquiries “if they thought they might be subject to the kind of intemperate treatment Mr Lawrence subjected me to”.

But in his own account of the exchange, Mr Lawrence said Mr Dunlop had provoked him by saying his “breath stinks” while “wav(ing) his hand over his nose and ma(king) a pained facial expression as if to clear the air of a bad smell”.

“These words and gestures offended and angered me,” he told the Law Society.

“I swore at him and called him ‘a low-life c*** whose work on youth offending caused so much damage in the Aboriginal community and with youth’,” he said.

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Mr Lawrence admitted engaging in “verbal abuse” towards Mr Dunlop but said he was further provoked when the journalist “professionally slandered” him by calling him “a shit lawyer”.

“Such words are hardly edifying I am the first to concede but in the circumstances I reacted to his gross insults and continual goading,” he said.

The Law Society’s Ethics Committee subsequently found there was a “reasonable likelihood” the Legal Practitioner’s Disciplinary Tribunal would find Mr Lawrence guilty of professional misconduct over the incident.

But that finding was rejected by the Law Society Council, which ruled there was insufficient evidence to establish Mr Lawrence was acting in any professional capacity at the time of the incident.

“There is no suggestion that Lawrence gave evidence at the policy scrutiny committee … nor that he was there to support a client or represent a professional body,” the council found.

“While the relevant Bill may have related to criminal proceedings, Lawrence’s attendance on that day appears to have been as a member of the public with an interest in the area, rather than in his role as a lawyer.”

The Council noted that while Mr Lawrence’s behaviour was “dissatisfactory and in a general sense may reflect poorly” on him, it did not meet the high threshold for professional misconduct.

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“The society formed the view that in the context of a private confrontation, as opposed to conduct having the relevant nexus to the practice of law, Lawrence’s behaviour was not sufficient to ground a finding that Lawrence is not a fit and proper person to engage in legal practice,” it found.

“While the society considered Lawrence’s conduct to be poor, it was not satisfied that in the context of comments made separate to engaging in legal practice that the behaviour met the Allinson test of disgraceful or dishonourable conduct.”

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