A number of jurisdictions in Australia have enacted legislation requiring information about disciplinary action taken against a practitioner to be made public. In some jurisdictions the legislation requires that the register be made available to the public and made available on the regulators website. Accordingly regulators have set up disciplinary registers on their website where required.

CORO is currently involved in developing a National Disciplinary Register. The Register once active will contain information concerning disciplinary action taken by each of the regulators within Australia.

The National Register will not record complaints against practitioners. It will simply collate the information that is recorded on the state based disciplinary registers pursuant to the local Legal Profession Acts. A record is only made when an action such as a public reprimand, the appointment of a manager or the removal of a practising certificate is taken.

CORO is of the view that a national register will assist in the move towards legal profession regulation in a national market and have a major impact on assisting consumers to legal services to make informed choices about their lawyers. It is also hoped that the register would act as an incentive to the profession to develop mechanisms that reduce disciplinary action being taken.

We are now working on constructing the National Disciplinary Register.