Impersonating a Police Officer is a serious crime, and so is impersonating a lawyer.

In 2018–19, Piper Alderman’s then-law clerk Mr Owen Nanlohy and paralegal/JP Ms Natalie Miller were reported for allegedly impersonating a solicitor and/or barrister in court. Despite sworn affidavits, court documents, and financial records as evidence, the OLSC and Law Society PSD closed the reports. Neither was held accountable. Their actions misled the court, the regulators, and the admissions board, allowing them to begin their legal careers through deception, posing an ongoing risk to the public.

Impersonating a Police Officer is a serious crime, and so is impersonating a lawyer.

Impersonating a lawyer caries significant penalties, but for Ms Miller and Mr Nanlohy those rules do not apply as demonstrated by the Office Legal Service Commissioner (OLSC) and Law Society of NSW Professional Standards Department.

In 2018-19, a report was appropriately made to the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC) and the Law Society of NSW Professional Standards Department (PSD) about unqualified persons impersonating lawyers while employed by Piper Alderman.

Ms Natalie Miller (then a paralegal/JP) impersonated a solicitor, and Mr Owen Nanlohy (then a law clerk) impersonated a barrister in NSW Local Court proceedings.

Credit Corp/Piper Alderman barrister, Mr Sebastian Hartford Davis (a University of Oxford PhD and former Piper Alderman employee) wilfully assisted Ms Miller in misleading the court. As recorded in court transcripts, he referred to Ms Miller as a solicitor, specifically, as his instructing solicitor, despite knowing she was not admitted. Throughout the hearings, including the final two-day hearing, Ms Miller sat at the bar table with Mr Hartford Davis (the only two appearing), where she acted as a solicitor.

Magistrate Sharon Freund, who presided over the two-day final hearing, acted against the administration of justice by allowing a person to tamper with evidence in open court.

Under the direction of Mr Hartford Davis, Ms Miller was permitted to handle evidence in court, she marked the exhibit given by the witness in the box and handed it up to the court as tendered evidence. This constitutes a serious offence.

There is also sworn affidavit evidence from Piper Alderman Partner Mr Florian Ammer confirming that Ms Miller was instructing counsel in hearings and that solicitors’ rates were charged for her work.

Excerpts from the sworn affidavit of Florian, Partner at Piper Alderman (PA) on 15 August 2016, show costs being claimed for Ms Natalie Miller as “instructing counsel.” Ms Miller was not a solicitor and was impermissibly allowed to conduct hearings and instruct a barrister. Counsel Mr Sebastian Hartford-Davis, (a former Piper Alderman employee), knowingly misled the court by referring to Ms Miller as his “instructing solicitor.” Mr Hartford-Davis and Mr Ammer, Partner of PA with Ms Miller, had misled the court on multiple occasions. Ms Miller was admitted as a legal practitioner in 2018. Knowingly misleading the court raises serious questions about a lawyer’s fitness to practise and poses an on-ongoing a risk to the public. Despite receiving evidence of these serious alleged misconduct, the OLSC and the Law Society of NSW PSD failed to investigate or act, in breach of their statutory duties to regulate the profession.

All of these materials, court transcripts, court documents, evidence of their conduct, including the Magistrate’s actions, were appropriately referred to and provided in the report made by Ms Odtojan to the OLSC and the Law Society of NSW Professional Standards Department. Despite this, the regulators systematically closed the matter without any investigation.

Their response to the report of Ms Miller and Mr Nanlohy impersonating lawyers was simply: “There is no need to take it further...”, and they closed the matter.

The Law Society of NSW PSD received a 102-page report of serious misconduct by Piper Alderman lawyers and the impersonation of lawyers by unqualified employees, supported by over 600 pages of exhibits in a folder bundle. Without conducting any investigation or asking a single question, the PSD dismissed it as an “enquiry” and closed the matter, stating only that “the matters will not need to be taken further.” Despite the gravity of the allegations, both the PSD and OLSC failed to discharge their statutory duty under s 465 of the Uniform Law to refer suspected offences to the appropriate authorities.

At the time, Legal Services Commissioner John McKenzie justified the actions of Ms Miller, Mr Nanlohy, and Piper Alderman, ignoring the seriousness of the offence, the law, and the clear evidence.

To date, these reports have been concealed by the OLSC and the Law Society of NSW Professional Standards Department. They do not acknowledge the reports made to them by Ms Odtojan.

These officers have used the authority of their offices to protect serious misconduct and criminality.

Further, the regulators have a statutory duty under section 465 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law ("Uniform Law") to refer suspected offences to authorities such as NSW Police  and NSW ICAC

By failing in this duty, these regulatory officers' conduct is capable of amounting to Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct and/or Professional Misconduct under the Uniform Law.

In addition, as officers of the court, they have a positive duty to self-report. This obligation extends to Piper Alderman Partner Mr Florian Ammer, barrister Mr Sebastian Hartford Davis, and all Piper Alderman lawyers involved as reported, including Ms Natalie Miller and Mr Owen Nanlohy, who are now legal practitioners. Mr Nanlohy is now a barrister in Melbourne, Victoria.

These legal practitioners also have a duty to disclose such matters in their annual practising certificate renewal applications.

Ms Miller and Mr Nanlohy misled the Admissions Board by failing to disclose their serious conduct of misleading the court and impersonating lawyers. Had they been truthful, they would not have been admitted as lawyers. They continue to mislead each year when renewing their practising certificates.

Ms Miller and Mr Nanlohy, along with Piper Alderman and Sebastian Hartford Davis of Banco Chambers, were effectively given a green light by NSW legal regulators to undermine our courts, our laws, and the administration of justice, allowing them to act as though they are above the law. They were permitted to become, or continue as, lawyers and officers of the court, professing honesty and candour, despite posing a danger to the public.

Mr Owen Nanlohy was moved in his admission to the legal profession by Mr Sebastian Hartford Davis of Banco Chambers. Mr Hartford Davis had previously assisted the impersonation of lawyers in court by referring to Ms Natalie Miller, then a non-admitted paralegal, as his “instructing solicitor” during a two-day hearing. Ms Miller sat beside him at the bar table, acted as a solicitor, and submitted tampered court documents as evidence. These serious breaches were reported to the OLSC and Law Society PSD in 2018–19, but both regulators closed the reports without investigation, allowing those involved to enter and continue in legal practice without accountability, and posing an ongoing risk to the public.

In this one case alone, Ms Natalie Miller is alleged to have impersonated a solicitor on seven separate court occasions. She was known to have been involved in multiple Credit Corp cases in the Local Court at the time in 2014 to 2016.

Magistrate Freund even recorded Ms Anne Freeman as the solicitor instructing Mr Sebastian Hartford Davis, when it was actually Ms Natalie Miller in her local court judgment in 2016. If not for Ms Odtojan being a witness and making such a report, no one would ever know Ms Miller was present and acting as a solicitor in those hearings. These recordings were never rectified by Piper Alderman or Mr Hartford Davis.

To put this in perspective, Ms Miller was acting in multiple court proceedings for Credit Corp Services Pty Limited. Mr Florian Ammer’s own sworn affidavit shows contempt for the law, court rules, and professional ethics by effectively claiming it was acceptable for Ms Miller to appear as a lawyer “under his authority.” Neither Mr Ammer, Mr Sebastian Hartford Davis, Ms Miller nor Mr Nanlohy disclosed to the court Ms Miller and Mr Nanlohy were not legal practitioners nor did they seek leave of the court to appear.

For information visit: OdtojanBrylLawyers.com.au and watch our YouTube videos.

A person impersonating a Police Officer demands $500 from a boy's mum.

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