A Cape Town attorney is due to appear before a Legal Practice Council (LPC) disciplinary committee tomorrow after an appeals tribunal found she has a prima facie case to answer on allegations of unprofessional conduct.
The hearing stems from a complaint lodged by Asif Casoojee against family and matrimonial law attorney Kaamilah Paulse, chief executive of Herold Gie Attorneys, following a four-year legal dispute involving access to his children.
Casoojee is separated from his children, who live in Cape Town, and Paulse represents his estranged wife in the matter.
Days before the hearing, Casoojee filed a supplementary statement with the LPC.
In the affidavit, he alleges that Paulse “has intentionally and vindictively misled several Western Cape High Court judges in providing a false narrative to enable her to access information from me, which lawfully she was not entitled to”.
“Her misrepresentations in this regard have given Paulse’s client a massive advantage in the divorce action in having my defence struck for failing to comply with the demands made by her in the Rule 35(3) notice,” the affidavit states.
In February, an LPC appeals tribunal referred several of Casoojee’s complaints against Paulse to a disciplinary committee. Among its findings, the tribunal said Paulse acted improperly by pursuing an application despite defective service, failing to withdraw it when the defect was identified, providing misleading information regarding a rescission application, and causing unnecessary costs and delays.
The tribunal also referred a complaint relating to a domestic violence application brought in Randburg.
According to the ruling, the tribunal found that Paulse, while present on a virtual court platform, instructed her advocate to place misleading information on record by stating that a protection order application had been withdrawn because the threat no longer existed due to the parties’ locations, rather than because the application lacked merit.
“The transcripts of the matter were considered, and the application was indeed dismissed due to lack of merit and not because of logistical reasons.”
However, the tribunal dismissed several other complaints, including parental alienation and a claim that Herold Gie Attorneys had required Casoojee to pay R300 000 into its trust account.
“If considered in isolation, one could tend to agree with the complainant, but considering… his outstanding judgments, arrears maintenance and cost orders, the committee finds that Mrs Paulse was acting in the interest of her client.”
Retired Western Cape High Court judge Siraj Desai, South Africa’s Legal Services Ombud, confirmed that his office is monitoring the matter.
Paulse had not responded to questions from Sunday World at the time of going to
- A Cape Town attorney is due to appear before a Legal Practice Council (LPC) disciplinary committee tomorrow after an appeals tribunal found she has a prima facie case to answer on allegations of unprofessional conduct.
- The hearing stems from a complaint lodged by Asif Casoojee against family and matrimonial law attorney Kaamilah Paulse, chief executive of Herold Gie Attorneys, following a four-year legal dispute involving access to his children.
- Casoojee is separated from his children, who live in Cape Town, and Paulse represents his estranged wife in the matter.
- Days before the hearing, Casoojee filed a supplementary statement with the LPC.
- In the affidavit, he alleges that Paulse “has intentionally and vindictively misled several Western Cape High Court judges in providing a false narrative to enable her to access information from me, which lawfully she was not entitled to”.
A Cape Town attorney is due to appear before a Legal Practice Council (LPC) disciplinary committee tomorrow after an appeals tribunal found she has a prima facie case to answer on allegations of unprofessional conduct.
Casoojee is separated from his children, who live in Cape Town, and Paulse represents his estranged wife in the matter.
Days before the hearing, Casoojee filed a supplementary statement with the LPC.
In the affidavit, he alleges that Paulse “has intentionally and vindictively misled several Western Cape High Court judges in providing a false narrative to enable her to access information from me, which lawfully she was not entitled to”.
“Her misrepresentations in this regard have given Paulse’s client a massive advantage in the divorce action in having my defence struck for failing to comply with the demands made by her in the Rule 35(3) notice,” the affidavit states.
In February, an LPC appeals tribunal referred several of Casoojee’s complaints against Paulse to a disciplinary committee.
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However, the tribunal dismissed several other complaints, including parental alienation and a claim that Herold Gie Attorneys had required Casoojee to pay R300 000 into its trust account.
“If considered in isolation, one could tend to agree with the complainant, but considering... his outstanding judgments, arrears maintenance and cost orders, the committee finds that Mrs Paulse was acting in the interest of her client.”
Retired Western Cape High Court judge Siraj Desai,
Paulse had not responded to questions from
