Grass Roots: Adventures of a Suburban Lawyer

By Alan Dudley Alpass

Would you expect a suburban Melbourne solicitor to settle brothel brawls, to locate dead bodies and to search for buried bullion? The author relates all of these adventures and more as he explores engaging stories of humanity, gleaned from decades of legal practice. From courtroom characters to family feuding, the author highlights the true, yet untold stories that show a surprising side of legal practice, told with simplicity and colour. As William Shakespeare said, “An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.” Whilst the author draws on client experiences from the humorous to the harrowing, the stories are respectfully related reflections upon client battles at the grass roots.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781398403949

Alan Dudley Alpass

The author studied law at Monash University in Melbourne during the 1960s and 1970s, when the anti-Vietnam protests were at their zenith. There, his sense of justice was realised. In the 50 years since, his practice of law at the grassroots level has provided a wealth of stories from the humorous to the harrowing. Alan continues to practice law, to write, and to quietly work for professionalism and accountability within the legal profession. In his rare spare moments, Alan enjoys travel, classic cars and, in a change of pace, gardening.

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About the Author

The author studied law at Monash University in Melbourne during the 1960s and 1970s, when the anti-Vietnam protests were at their zenith. There, his sense of justice was realised. In the 50 years since, his practice of law at the grassroots level has provided a wealth of stories from the humorous to the harrowing. Alan continues to practice law, to write, and to quietly work for professionalism and accountability within the legal profession. In his rare spare moments, Alan enjoys travel, classic cars and, in a change of pace, gardening.

Dedication

To my wonderful children, Ben, Matt, Callum and Lara, who motivated me to write this book, it is only fair that you know why your father was often late or unavailable. Please read and understand my distractions.

Copyright Information ©

Alan Dudley Alpass 2021

The right of Alan Dudley Alpass to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

All of the events in this memoir are true to the best of author’s memory. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528989039 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398403932 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781398403949 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2021

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

To Dianne Websdale-Morrissey, a gifted teacher of writing and someone who focused and counselled me, I acknowledge your time and persuasive suggestions which gave my sometimes overly legalistic writing greater colour and ease of reading. To my personal assistants, Lea and Vicki, thank you for your patience and encouragement during multiple edits. To my sons, Ben and Matt, thank you for your support and creativity with the many draft cover designs. To my ever-loyal Margie, your thoughtfulness in reading and rereading the manuscript and the support I received from you cannot be overstated. Finally, to all those sole practitioners whether working as barristers or solicitors, you have been entrusted with the most engaging stories of humanity. The general public has a right and indeed an obligation to understand respectfully told stories that poke our legal system into action. May many others relate their experiences.

Biography

Bio of Alan Dudley Alpass

Practice

A lawyer in continuous legal practice in Victoria for 45 years

I graduated from Monash University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws

As a naïve 25-year-old, my first clients were those collected from a hotel in St Kilda where I worked as a part-time barman

I worked as a part-time volunteer lawyer in community-based legal aid centre for 10 years

I acquired eight legal practices (cheaply) which were absorbed into my Melbourne outer eastern suburban practice

In 2013, I opened a Collins Street legal practice in partnership (with an enthusiastic young lawyer who reminded me of my early self)

Since 2014, I have served on the Legal Services Board panel which undertakes external management of legal practices

In 2016, I was appointed to act as a receiver to a legal practice by the Supreme Court of Victoria

In 2018, I opened a boutique legal practice on the Mornington Peninsula which focuses on family law and estate/will disputes

I am on a panel of mentors to young lawyers and have been approached to supervise lawyers who are required to comply with undertakings arising out of misconduct

At one time, I employed 25 staff including 12 lawyers over my several legal practices.

Writing

Written many articles in the areas of family law and estate/will disputes

Written biography of WW2 Australian airman in Bomber Command

Critiqued articles for professional journals

Initially, my motivation to write this book was so that my family could understand a little of my demanding, motivating life as a legal practitioner.

Prologue

With just one room to go, I was pleased that I was nearing the end – I’m not one given to thoughts of the supernatural, but there was something about this gloom and the unidentified noises that made me uneasy. The sun was low in the sky and another loud groan filled the house as I entered what seemed to be a sunroom. Here again, the drawn blinds allowed barely enough light to catch the dust motes swirling around me, the intruder. Across one wall several chests of drawers awaited me. Peering into each one, I found more of the same – rubbish, photos, mementos and occasionally sudden, small surprises that added another dimension to my understanding of this man. A small holstered handgun. I sat back – this was something new…a scratching behind me made me jump again but seemed to confirm my theory of rats.

The last chest of drawers was small and tucked into a corner, half-hidden among the larger pieces. Three drawers were filled with the usual unremarkable knickknacks and papers. Not so the final bottom drawer. It was stuck so that when I pulled hard, it gave way suddenly and I nearly fell backwards. I peered inside and my stomach lurched…

Introduction

For most people, suburban law practices sit at the edge of their awareness. These premises are the pale, undistinguished bead in a string of brightly coloured, highly visible local shops. With only a brass plate or similar in a window of obscure glass, they draw neither the eye nor the consciousness of shoppers. Some, like mine, sit alone on a main road behind a board telling you that this is a law firm. We are the grassroots lawyers who are scattered about the suburbs, providing much needed services to the public.

The truth is that most people only notice such offices when something in their lives has caused them to seek the services of lawyers – most often for wills or domestic conveyancing. A much smaller number need help with a dispute or a police matter.

Most judges, barristers, tribunal members and court staffers rarely encounter the immediacy of the event that triggers a legal issue. Not so the suburban solicitor.

The pressures created by that immediacy, however, are vastly outweighed by the challenging, intriguing, funny, tragic and exciting events that greet you daily. Everyone I know is aware that I love my work, and it really is still a great pleasure, after all these years, to immerse yourself in people’s real-life problems, many of which the best fiction writers could never imagine.

My practice of more than 45 years has just about seen it all and the following chapters tell stories taken from those years. Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent (and sometimes not-so-innocent) but otherwise are true in every sense.

In February 2019, counsel assisting the Victorian Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants stated in his opening address, The legitimacy of our criminal justice system relies on the process being fair and even-handed, adding, All members of the community, including importantly, the victims of criminal activity, must be able to trust that the justice system and the individuals working within in it…will adhere to the highest standards of integrity and propriety. The Commission was established to investigate police use of a criminal law barrister, and others, who became informers, and the effect of their breach of client confidentiality on the outcomes of dozens of court cases.

Rule 9.1 of the Legal Profession Conduct Rules states that a solicitor must not disclose any information which is confidential to a client and acquired by a solicitor during the client’s engagement. Further, Section 121 of the Family Law Act 1975 prohibits the publication of any account of any proceedings that identifies a party, an associate of a party or a witness to the proceedings. Accordingly, I have taken appropriate steps in the writing of these chapters to avoid either the disclosure of confidential information or the identifications prohibited by law. Further, to maintain my loyalty to my clients and to avoid any conflict of interest, I have either obtained client consents to relate their stories or have carefully crafted their stories to avoid disclosing their identity.

It goes without saying that the main reason for confidentiality is to allow full communication between solicitors and clients so that the most relevant facts are utilised. For example, without confidentiality, would a woman who kills her husband in self-defence after years of horrid domestic violence relate the full story of the historic abuse if she thought sharing that information would convict her?

These stories are arranged thematically rather than temporally so that I can group the bizarre cases, unconventional characters and dangerous situations and places where my professional and personal lives threatened to implode. Subject to the above rules, they need no other fictional adornment because they speak of genuinely amazing individuals – not always benign, as you will see – and of the surprising, often ridiculous predicaments in which I found myself.

In this book, I tell the true story of a suburban law firm. This story is one of characters, conflict, courts and just sometimes, paralysing peril. My practice covers all areas of law, so no day is the same. The endless procession of people who come anxiously through the doors, present lawyers like me with a multiplicity of legal problems that ensures the variety of my work, but it is the diversity of personalities – their drivers, reactions and responses – the array of human strengths and frailties – that provides the real interest for my life as a suburban lawyer.

Now late in my career, I feel the need to preserve these stories which would otherwise be lost in the office shredder, most having never made it beyond the grass roots.

In the Beginning

Most people passing my humble offices would, even if they noticed them, imagine a legal office housing pedantic, stuffy staff taking instructions, wading through documents and enthusiastically churning out wills, letters of demand and powers of attorney. Few could imagine the other side of the suburban legal practice ledger. The working life of a suburban solicitor is very different from others involved in our ancient profession. Over drinks recently, a soon-to-be-retired County Court judge, perhaps reflecting on his cloistered career, told me that he wished to spend his evening discussing the pearls and pitfalls faced by legal practitioners at, what he called, ‘the grass roots’.

Taking instructions in the outer Melbourne suburbs, often from clients ill-prepared for an overcomplicated and confusing system, means that clients are often jaded, bewildered and suspicious. This cynicism often intensifies and turns to outright fear and intimidation further up the ladder when clients are introduced to a specialist and, sometimes, pompous counsel who, despite their best intentions, impart their knowledge in a fashion way above the full understanding of those not accustomed to our language and systems.

Clients’ fear can run deep when cost estimates are given, causing them to simply walk away from the protections that well-resourced (and usually better informed) clients may seek from our justice system. A recurring example is seen in family law where, for example, clients entering second relationships seek to protect assets so that their children, usually by the first relationship, can receive some benefit. Our advice to such clients is that they should document the agreement with their new partner through what are commonly called ‘Binding Financial Agreements’ (wrongly called ‘Prenuptial Agreements’) which regulate how those assets are to be treated upon separation or death. The courts, most helpfully, have established a large body of case law prescribing that certain formal requirements must be met for such agreements to be enforceable. The unfortunate consequence is that the preparation of such a document requires legal skills which include taking careful and sometimes sensitive instructions, awareness of current law and polished drafting. This generally means greater cost to the average client. They often react badly to a high (in their world) estimate of costs and give up on the protection afforded by the agreement, walking away from their rights, to suffer adverse consequences at a later date.

So, it is armed with this knowledge, that any suburban