He’s planning to appeal his conviction
A law graduate has felt the full weight of the justice system this week, being fined $1,500 (£868) for unlawfully posing as a solicitor when he wasn’t qualified to do so.
Taking the quest for legal work experience to the extreme, 24-year-old Jacob Reichman is reported to have intervened in police interviews with clients and otherwise engaged in legal practice on a total of 12 occasions.
Following a two-day trial in Brisbane, Australia, the aspiring lawyer — who for six years has worked with a barrister, Chris Rosser, on the Gold Coast — was convicted of engaging in legal practice when not entitled. He was fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $4,000 (£2,314) in costs.
This isn’t the first time Reichman has had a brush with the law. In 2014, he was fined $1,000 (£572) for, again, representing himself as a solicitor.
On that occasion, he reportedly posted screenshots of himself acting in a legal capacity on his Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, and also uploaded images to Instagram with the hashtags #lawyer, #younglawyer and #criminallawyers. Australian media reports Reichman pleaded guilty to the offence and blamed his Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) for the lapse in judgement.
This time around, Reichman pleaded not guilty and has not taken the court’s decision lightly. Planning to lodge an appeal, he explained:
Despite his Honour’s comment that he could not see how this matter would affect my admission as a lawyer, I am nonetheless deeply concerned that the outcome of this matter may affect any future practise as a lawyer.
He continued:
Whilst I respect the court’s ruling, the present advice from my experienced legal representatives is that I must appeal this decision to a higher court to obtain a just result.
Reichman should, however, take some solace from the comments made by magistrate Noel Nunan, who tried the case:
It looked like he was doing a reasonable job during all of these interviews.
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