Occupational Licensing & Professionals Advocacy

We are at the forefront of practitioner advocacy and for many years have represented professionals including lawyers, engineers, builders, designers and draftspersons in the arenas of probity, professional standards and misconduct.

Professor Kim Lovegrove published a book “Disciplinary Hearings and Advocacy” and is renowned as an expert in the professional conduct arena. Along with Mr Justin Cotton, Professor Lovegrove has represented professionals for many years; although in Victoria he cannot represent council officials as he is a Legal Chair of the Municipal Association of Victoria Disciplinary panel for ethical and probity breaches concerning elected officials. 

Needless to say, Professor Lovegrove and Mr Cotton are pre-eminent in the area of practitioner representation in professional standards jurisdictions particularly in NSW, ACT and Queensland. In these jurisdictions they have for many years had conduct of practitioner representation and Kim and Justin regularly appear in person.

One of the advantages with using Lovegrove Solicitors is that in the majority of matters the lawyer with conduct of the matter also does the appearance. This ensures continuity and efficiency of file handling and advocacy. There are also significant cost savings as the in-house advocates do not have to brief barristers, rather to labor the point we do our own appearance work.

Many of the appearances have culminated in important precedents. Notably though, our approach is to endeavour to resolve matters quickly and where possible to avoid matters having to go to formal disciplinary hearings. We handle matters with the highest level of professionalism and sensitivity, mindful of the fact that such proceedings can be terribly stressful. We are ill disposed to the taking of cute technical points, rather we focus on the issue, assess the facts and work out the appropriate way to generate the most balanced and just outcome. Sometimes this involves advice that encourages “fessing up” and effective mitigation. But where there is a matter that is flawed or misconceived, then of course it will be defended.

This area of law is complex and characterized by legal nuances that can generally only be gleaned by highly experienced lawyers, namely ourselves.  So please consider us if you need professional help. To find out more about Mr Justin Cotton or Professor Kim Lovegrove simply click on their names.

The Lovegrove Solicitors E - Library

There are over 200 articles on the Lovegrove Soilicitors E - Library. To access articles on occupational licensing & professional advocacy and other topics click E - Library.