Does the Tax Commissioner know how his legal representatives conduct litigation?
Tax Commissioner defends outrageous conduct of legal representatives The legal profession has high standards for how litigation is to be conducted. The Commissioner of Taxation's website says: "As a government agency, we apply the highest standards of ethical behaviour when we are involved in litigation. ...[We] need to do the right thing, be fair and have the highest professional standards ..." A statement of claim lodged in the Federal Court of Australia recently details unprofessional and unethical conduct by the Tax Commissioner's legal representatives in defending an action alleging serious fraud by senior Tax Office delegates of the Tax Commissioner. The Tax Commissioner may have acknowledged that his legal representatives had behaved inappropriately - if he was aware of the issue. Instead, a team of legal representatives was sent to the Federal Court of Australia with the unenviable task of devising a way to obstruct, and presumably to defeat the litigation. ...