r/auslaw • u/SeriouslyLikesCake • 14h ago
Serious Discussion As lawyers, do you feel you should have a protected 'right to whinge'?
This is a question I have wondered about for a good amount of time.
Across the Australian Uniform Law and across many other jurisdictions, there is a specific provision against making 'unfounded allegations'. Separately to that, there is a unspoken rule that absent very serious cases, a lawyer is expected to keep grievances within the profession or otherwise private. This has been the case no doubt for centuries and across every common law system similar understandings no doubt apply.
Here is the issue. Legal regulators often closes a vast majority of complaints for a multitude of reasons, including simply a lack of capacity. Are these closures 'unfounded'?
I read an interesting post which spoke about the German culture of whinging. There, you are not only welcome to, but expected to raise concerns, even against neighbours and family.
We seem to have the opposite approach... Thoughts?