Rule 5 LPDC Rules 2020

Rule 5 of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) Rules 2020 is about Certification of Case to answer. It provides as follows:

(1) An Application made in accordance with rule 4 shall initially be considered by a member ofthe Committee (“the initial committee member”) on the directive of the Chairman for consideration of the question of whether there is a case to answer in respect of the allegations made in the Originating Application.

(2) If the initial committee member considers that there is a case to answer in respect of any or all the allegations made and is not of the opinion that the question is one of doubt or difficulty then the initial committee member must certify that there is a case to answer.

(3) If the initial committee member is minded not to certify that there is a case to answer in respect of all or some of the allegations made or is of the opinion that the question is one of doubt or difficulty, the question must be considered by a panel of three members of the Disciplinary Committee. The initial committee member may be a member of the panel. If the panel considers that there is a case to answer in respect of any of the allegations made, then it must certify that there is a case to answer in respect of those allegations.

(4) If the panel decides that there is no case to answer in respect of any of the allegations made, it may refuse or dismiss the Originating Application, part of it, without requiring the respondent to answer the allegations and without hearing the applicant. The applicant must be provided with written reasons explaining the decision.

(5) If a panel or committee member certifies that a case to answer is established in respect of all or any of the allegations made, the Secretary must serve a copy of each of the documents referred to in rule (4), (5)or (6), as the case may be, on each respondent.

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