Licence back to Etter... for now
FORMER corruption watchdog boss Barbara Etter has been granted a temporary licence to practise law again, after a ruling by the Full Court.
Ms Etter — the first chief executive of the state’s Integrity Commission and a former barrister for Susan Neill-Fraser — yesterday fronted the Full Court in a directions hearing for her appeal of two rulings by Justice Greg Geason last year ordering her to produce her case file from a coronial inquest and to have her ban from practising law overturned.
Ms Etter and her lawyer Hugh Selby sought the Full Court to add the Law Society of Tasmania — who suspended her — to her appeal, to provide some additional documents when the substantive hearing is held and most importantly for Ms Etter’s suspension to practise law be lifted until the full hearing expected in late May.
The Full Court, comprising of Justice Helen Wood, Justice Robert Pearce and acting Justice David Porter unanimously agreed on the first and second requests, with the third agreed to by two of the three judges.
Mr Selby said it was a big win for Ms Etter.
“We succeeded on each matter,” he said. “The most important of which that the court decided two to one to lift Barbara Etter’s suspension until the substantive hearing in May.
“The atmosphere changed dramatically today.”
Ms Etter’s practising certificate was suspended by the Law Society of Tasmania on October 31 on the direction of the Legal Profession Board.
This was following an investigation by the board into her conduct regarding the inquest into Rita Sally Greer last year.
Initially deemed a suicide, Mrs Greer’s 2007 death at Pelverata was subject to a fresh inquest in 2016.
Daughter Pauline, represented by Ms Etter, believed her mother’s death may have been the result of foul play by the father and son.
But Coroner Olivia McTaggart not only reconfirmed Mrs Greer had taken her own life but also criticised Ms Etter for her conduct including “baseless allegations” about the deceased’s husband and son Robert.
Robert Greer subsequently lodged a complaint with the board, which began investigating if the allegations amounted to unsatisfactory conduct or professional misconduct.
An investigator made several requests for Ms Etter’s case file but she said the notice “was fishing and there was some vendetta”.
Ms Etter is also facing a complaint from the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to last year’s trial of former client Neill-Fraser, who is trying to overturn her conviction for the murder of partner Bob Chappell on a yacht in the Derwent on Australia Day, 2009.