Law graduate who posed as solicitor to fight conviction

The 24-year-old, who was also charged with the same offense in 2014, plans to appeal his conviction to a higher court.

Jacob Lazar Reichman, who was convicted of engaging in legal practice without authorisation, will look to appeal to a higher court.
 
Yesterday, Reichman had a conviction recorded in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, was fined $1,500 and required to pay $4,000 in costs, a report from Brisbane Times said.
 
“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 said.
 
“I feel unjustly targeted in this case as I was simply doing as my employer told me to do, I never had my own clients nor did I set up my own firm.”
 
He said that the conviction compels him to appeal since it may prevent him from becoming a lawyer.
 
Reichman pleaded guilty in 2014 at the same court of engaging in legal practice while not being entitled on six occasions and for wrongly representing himself as a lawyer. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay costs of $1,083.50.
  
If there’s any consolation for Reichman, Magistrate Noel Nunan actually noted he was doing a reasonable job after calling the man “brazen” for acting as a solicitor given after being reprimanded in 2014.
 
“It looked like he was doing a reasonable job during all of these interviews,” Nunan said of Reichman.
 
“There's a lot of incompetent solicitos running around the place, giving legal advice, giving criminal legal advice. I see it daily.”
 
Nunan said he does not believe that Reichman’s conviction will prevent him from becoming a lawyer.
 
Reichman, who is said to be in his sixth year of employment with Gold Coast barrister Chris Rosser, was found to have acted in a legal capacity 12 times.
 

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