Independence Statement

The lawyers in UNE Legal Services need to remain independent of the various lines of business, any Board and the management team of UNE to ensure that the legal advice they provide is sufficiently objective and impartial, and to comply with their professional obligations as lawyers.

Independence Policy of UNE Legal Services:

1. Legal services must be provided in an independent and professional manner in accordance with each lawyer’s responsibilities as an officer of the Court or Courts in which they are admitted to practice and laws, regulations and professional rules applying to legal practitioners in Australia.
2. In certain circumstances, the professional duties of the lawyers in the UNE Legal Services office may take precedence over their duties to UNE or individuals within UNE.
3. The role of UNE Legal Services is to provide legal advice as opposed to commercial advice.  This distinction must be clearly understood where a lawyer is providing legal advice to the business to assist the business in making a commercial assessment for a particular matter.
4. UNE management, such as the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer, individuals in senior management positions, directors of any Board etc and other employees must not seek to inappropriately influence the proper exercise of the independent professional judgment of a lawyer in UNE Legal Services.
5. If a lawyer in UNE Legal Services forms the view that their ability to provide impartial legal advice has been, or may be, compromised they should immediately inform the Director of Legal Services or Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer or equivalent.
6. Where a lawyer in UNE Legal Services performs both legal and non-legal roles, those roles must be clearly delineated and the distinction identified where appropriate in the relevant communications.

The lawyers in the UNE Legal Services acknowledge that they owe a duty of confidentiality to those whom they advise and have a duty to act always with the utmost integrity.