Lawyers Weekly Australia
Justice Melinda Richards convicted Jonathan Bowers-Taylor of two counts of contempt of court and handed down a 30-day prison term.
However, the prison term will be suspended for two years, with Bowers-Taylor expected to serve the sentence if he fails to comply with the orders and injunctions of the Victorian Supreme Court.
The court heard Bowers-Taylor breached orders made on 9 August prohibiting from “preventing, obstructing or otherwise hindering” a manager who had taken over his law firm, JBT Lawyers.
Just months earlier, the same court found two charges of contempt of court were proven beyond reasonable doubt when Bowers-Taylor failed to provide the manager with software and failed to permit the manager to secure and remove a computer server.
Justice Richards said Bowers-Taylor’s conduct affected the administration of justice because he “wasted his client’s time and money” and the time of a solicitor and the Supreme Court.
Justice Richards added the “most significant” part of Bowers-Taylor’s misconduct was his “repeated defiance” of the court’s orders.
“It is a grave matter for any person to deliberately disobey a court order. It is even more grave when that person has been admitted to practice as a member of the Australian legal professional and is an officer of the court,” Justice Richards said.
“The administration of justice is necessarily impaired when such a person flouts the court’s authority.”
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