A Melbourne lawyer charged with perverting the course of justice has launched court action against the legal industry regulator after it suspended her practising licence and appointed an independent manager to oversee her law firm.
Zoe Davis, 34, has accused the Victorian Legal Services Board of failing to give adequate notice and breaching procedural fairness when it suspended her certificate on July 12 and appointed an external manager, according to documents filed in the Supreme Court.
Zoe Davis and Rachelle Badour-Taha are accused of doctoring a document for a client they were acting for.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Davis and another lawyer, Rachelle Badour-Taha, 25, were charged last month with perverting the course of justice, attempting to pervert the course of justice and using a false document.
Both women are accused of altering a medical certificate for a woman they were acting for, who was charged with traffic matters and was due to face Frankston Magistrates’ Court in September last year.
Detective Senior Constable Jamie Shanks told the Magistrates’ Court on July 17 that Badour-Taha had emailed the court a letter purportedly from a medical professional stating their client could not attend court that day.
The court registrar noticed inconsistencies with the document and questioned its validity, the detective said.
Zoe Davis is the director of ZD Legal.
Further inquiries were made, Shanks said, and revealed that the client was never a patient at Northpark Private Hospital in Bundoora.
It was also said in court last month that police had tracked down the original document holder – a former client of Davis’ firm, ZD Legal, from 2022 – who provided a statement to confirm it was her document but that the wording had been altered.
Last Friday, the legal industry regulator released a statement announcing that Alan Alpass, principal lawyer at Alpass and Associates, had been appointed as manager of ZD Legal. The regulator also confirmed that Davis and Badour-Taha had been suspended and are currently unable to engage in any legal practice.
However, a barrister acting for Davis has claimed in court documents that the regulator’s decision to suspend her was “affected by jurisdictional error, and had no legal effect”.
Davis’ legal team has asked the court to quash her suspension.
Rachelle Badour-Taha.
It has also alleged that the charging and subsequent suspension of Davis did not provide a sufficient basis for the regulator to appoint an independent manager to oversee ZD Legal and its clients.
Davis and her lawyers have asked for a stay on the appointment of Alpass until the matter can be heard by a judge.
ZD Legal, which has offices in Melbourne and Sydney, recently removed its website. It previously said that Davis was a criminal traffic and commercial litigation lawyer.
Davis and Badour-Taha are due to return to court over the documents case in October.
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