Australia, July 25 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 25:

1. The Council of the New South Wales Bar Association (the Bar Council) found that a barrister, Ms Rita Lahoud, had engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct. The Bar Council has applied to the Tribunal under the Legal Profession Uniform Law 2015 (NSW) (Uniform Law) for disciplinary findings and orders against Ms Lahoud. (At various parts of these reasons Ms Lahoud is referred to as "the Respondent" and the Bar Council is referred to as "the Applicant".)

2. The ground for the application for a finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct is based on "the B complaint". On 24 December 2019, Ms Lahoud went to the home of Ms B and her partner, Mr B. At that time the couple had had full time care and custody of a ten year old child (Child A) since November 2012. Child A's biological mother, identified in these reasons as Ms A, is Ms B's half-sister. We have used these pseudonyms to protect the identify of Child A.

3. In March 2018, nearly two years before this visit, Ms A had engaged Ms Lahoud directly as her barrister to "pursue an application for permanent restoration of care and responsibility of [her] daughter". During the visit to the home of Ms and Mr B, Ms Lahoud delivered presents for Child A from her mother and encouraged Ms B to negotiate about increased access between Child A and her mother.

4. The ground for the application for a finding of professional misconduct is based on the "Bar Council complaint". On five separate occasions between February 2021 and April 2022, Ms Lahoud falsely represented to the Bar Council that she did not attend Ms and Mr B's home on 24 December 2019 or at any other time.

5. The parties provided a Statement of Agreed Facts. The only disputed fact in that statement is whether, during the discussion with Ms and Mr B at their home, Ms Lahoud said she could "slap them with a section", which Ms B understood to be a reference to a legal or court action.

6. Ms Lahoud admits that the "B complaint" amounts to unsatisfactory professional conduct. She also admits that the "Bar Council complaint" amounts to professional misconduct. Despite those admissions, we must decide for ourselves whether the conduct comes within the statutory definitions of those terms.

7. Ms Lahoud does not currently hold a practising certificate. On 21 December 2023, she agreed that it should be suspended and it has now expired. The Bar Council has applied to the Tribunal for an order that Ms Lahoud not apply for a practising certificate for 3 years from the date of this decision. Ms Lahoud submitted that a period of 3 years is punitive rather than protective and that a significantly shorter period is appropriate.

8. We have decided that Ms Lahoud should be prohibited from applying for a practising certificate for a period of 18 months from the date of this decision. The effect of that order is that she will have been without a practising certificate for approximately three years before she is able to re-apply.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1979f360995bde14756e3112)

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