COMMENT
Presented as reported except to say that this is yet another instance of Australia's judiciary suffering a Eusoffe Chin type problem.
Darwin lawyer Alistair Wyvill cleared of misconduct after claiming judge was 'politically partisan'
A prominent Darwin barrister has been cleared of professional misconduct and his fears about a Supreme Court judge being "politically partisan" have sufficient basis, a tribunal has found.
Key points:
- Law Society NT has lost a long-running fight against Alistair Wyvill SC
- A tribunal found a judge's comments may have implied a "favourable view" of the Country Liberals
- Mr Wyvill acted for former Labor leader Delia Lawrie at the Stella Maris inquiry
Alistair Wyvill SC acted for the Northern Territory's former Labor leader Delia Lawrie during the controversial Stella Maris inquiry in 2013 and 2014, which was initiated by the Country Liberals government.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Southwood later made several findings about Ms Lawrie and Mr Wyvill's political strategy during the Stella Maris inquiry, in a judgment that rejected Ms Lawrie's challenge to its fairness in 2015.
A few months after this decision, Mr Wyvill wrote a scathing email to his NT Bar Association colleagues accusing the judge of damaging his reputation, harbouring "ill will" towards him, and demonstrating political bias.
"He caused extraordinary damage to my professional reputation which will be irreversible to a significant extent regardless of what I might have to say and what any other tribunal, having heard what I have to say, might find," Mr Wyvill said in the email.
"This in my view is suggestive of malice and calls into question his fitness to be a judge."
A battle that has divided the NT's legal community then followed.
The Law Society NT last year responded by filing two complaints against Mr Wyvill, alleging his comments were improper and without basis, and that Mr Wyvill had also knowingly made misleading or false statements in court documents.
On Friday, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal dismissed these complaints and Supreme Court Acting Justice Dean Mildren rejected the Law Society NT's further attempt to challenge the tribunal's decision.
In his 2015 judgment, Justice Southwood said Mr Wyvill was pushing "a strategy to make the incredibly serious and completely baseless allegation that the Country Liberal government picked [Commissioner John Lawler] on the basis that he would find what they wanted to find".
Justice Southwood claimed Mr Wyvill had counselled a strategy to "ignore, disengage and discredit" the Stella Maris inquiry and that Ms Lawrie's evidence to the inquiry had been untruthful.
Judge's findings 'unnecessary'
But the tribunal found the judge's comments were not only irrelevant and unnecessary, but could imply a "favourable view of [the] Country Liberal Party".
It said comments about Ms Lawrie being untruthful were not supported in the evidence before the judge, and that his findings were "extremely damaging" to the reputations of Mr Wyvill and Ms Lawrie, while benefiting the CLP.
The tribunal's findings also mentioned help Mr Wyvill had previously given to a lawyer from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, who accused Justice Southwood of "bullying and disparaging" behaviour.
It found that could also be a basis for Mr Wyvill's suggestion the judge was unfit and for his fears about malice.
The tribunal described Mr Wyvill as a "victim" of the 2015 Supreme Court findings and said he had been a "forthcoming, careful, reliable and honest witness" before the tribunal.
It said Mr Wyvill's decision to write to the NT Bar Association about Justice Southwood was "understandable".
This was especially the case, the tribunal said, because there was no judicial commission in the NT at the time and Mr Wyvill had not been a party to proceedings that had made damaging findings against him.
Gunner challenged after 'damaging' findings
Soon after Justice Southwood's 2015 judgment Michael Gunner launched a leadership challenge against Ms Lawrie and she resigned, while Mr Wyvill stepped down as the NT Bar Association's president.
Ms Lawrie was also disendorsed by Labor because of concerns her ongoing legal matters had become a "serious distraction" ahead of the 2016 election.
The Stella Maris inquiry investigated Labor's offer of a lengthy rent-free lease to Unions NT of the heritage-listed Stella Maris site in central Darwin.
The conduct of former lands minister Gerry McCarthy and Ms Lawrie was criticised in the inquiry's final report for its lack of transparency and accountability, but Commissioner Lawler found no evidence of "corrupt" conduct.
The disciplinary tribunal noted that Commissioner Lawler found Ms Lawrie "may have genuinely believed that granting the site exclusively to Unions NT was in the public interest".
An appeal against Justice Southwood's decision to reject Ms Lawrie's procedural fairness arguments — heard by three interstate judges — failed in 2016, but the judgment noted findings about Mr Wyvill and Ms Lawrie's honesty had been unnecessary.
In a statement, Mr Wyvill's lawyers told the ABC their client welcomed the tribunal's decision dismissing the misconduct allegations.
"The decision speaks for itself," the statement said.
To avoid any conflicts of interest, former Tasmanian Supreme Court Judge Peter Evans chaired the tribunal.
The NT Law Society has been contacted for a response.
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