Sunday, November 23, 2025

College Of Law Academic Director Lewis Patrick's stewardship of PLT dismissed as "tail wagging the dog" -College students cannot be expected to have confidence in his oversight of their PLT, past students entitled to a full refund of fees

 by Ganesh Sahathevan on Liknedin 

          
         Lewis Patrick
         Chief Academic Officer and Deputy CEO at College of Law


These are not words that can be taken lightly for they are the words of the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, which is chaired by the Chief Justice Of NSW, Andrew Bell:

As PLT should be a very practical program, it is not necessary that it be taught as a formal AQF accredited qualification – and certainly not to the standard of being a graduate diploma. It is this current requirement which is dictating the length and cost of current PLT offerings – this is a case of the “tail wagging the dog”.
https://lnkd.in/gcx6i_B5


Readers will recall that Patrick defended his stewardship of the PLT,and the PLT itself , by asserting that " the College is not assessing the quality of (the student's) work experience, but rather the quality of (the student's) reflections on that experience.


Patrick said so in an email to this wroter in 2019. Given Andrew Bell's codemntaion of the PLT College students cannot be expected to have confidence in  Partick's  oversight of their PLT, and past students are  entitled to a full refund of fees . They cannot be expected to bear the burden of having to their names a discredited qualification , best described as a dog with fleas. 



TO BE READ WITH 


Thursday, August 7, 2025

College Of Law Academic Director Lewis Patrick remains in office, despite his PLT being condemned by CJ NSW Andrew Bell

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 




College Of Law Academic Director Lewis Patrick remains in office, despite his PLT being condemned by CJ NSW Andrew Bell.As Academic Director reponsible for the PLT for some 20 years he cannot escape laibility for this debacle, which affects College Of Law PLT graduates, and the taxpayers.

To Be Read With 


Thursday, March 27, 2025

Neville Carter v CJ NSW Andrew Bell descends into farce,students and the profession pay the price

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                                                                      




The College of Law Australia 's PLT students commenced the compulsory PLT course on 3 March 2025, just three weeks after the Chairman of the NSW LPAB and Chief Justice Of NSW, Andrew Bell, declared the College 's PLT overpriced and in need of reform of its course content. PLT graduates will ultimately seek admission to practise before Andrew Bell. As chairman of the NSW LPAB he is responsible for accrediting and supervising the College's PLT.

The College responded defiantly, its response reported by the AFR under the headline:
College of Law stares down disquiet about high fees and cheating

The CEO Neville Carter had in fact issued an "Update", where he attempted to dispute his Chief Justice's concerns, and which excluded major concerns in Australia and overseas about his and the College's conduct.

Meanwhile, it does not appear as if students are being advised of the Chief Justice's concerns so that they can withdraw, and be refunded their fees, and so that they can enrol with other PLT course providers..

END



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Monday, November 10, 2025

NSW CJ Andrew Bell's   declaration that the PLT is not fit for purpose  suggests that former LPAB Executive Officer  Siew McKeogh failed to inforrm the LPAB of complaints about the PLT -McKeogh's position at NSW Guardian And Trustee untenable 

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                                                                                     





The Chief Justice Of the NSW Supreme Court, Andrew Bell, has declared that the College Of Law Australia's PLT, which he oversees as Chairman of the NSW Legal Profession And Admission Board, is not fit for purpose. The tone and temper of Bell's campaign against the College and its PLT suggests that he was not , as chairman of the NSW LPAB, informared of long standing complaints against the College Of Law and its PLT, going back to at least 2019.

The Executive Officer of the NSW LPAB at that point was Siew McKeogh (picture above), who took over form Loiuse Pritchard sometime in late 2018. . McKeogh has yet to provide answers to other issues regarding her conduct while at the LPAB. She was moved to the NSW Trustee and Guardian despite these issues.

Her position is untenable, and she must be stood down pending investigation. 


TO BE READ WITH 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Former NSW LPAB Executive Officer Siew Ting Tan McKeogh transferred to NSW Trustee & Guardian but questions about false reporting in NSW LPAB Annual Report, Communist Party China linked Top Education Group law school re-accreditation for which McKeogh was responsible, remain unanswered

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 


R-L: Susan (Bastick) Carter Director, Law Extension Committee (LEC) at University of Sydney with Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC Governor of New South Wales and Siew McKeogh, Executive Officer of the LPAB. The LPAB oversees the LEC's Diploma in Law as it does the College Of Law. These associations have resulted in a wagon fort like protection of one another, to the point where statutory reporting obligations are being ignored, to the detriment of students and the legal profession in NSW.



The following was posted on a related blog on 12 April 2023:

NSW LPAB Executive Officer Siew Ting Tan McKeogh failed to disclose resignation and sudden departure of NSW Department Of Justice & LPAB officer Hayley Pollock, author of the document investigated by The Australian

In fact, McKeogh, then the NSW LPAB Executive Officer responsible for day to day operations with responsibility to sign-off on the contents of the NSW LAPB that concern operations,  failed to say anything about the 17 January 2019 story in The Australian which made public misconduct at the NSW LPAB, or at least revealed how three sitting judges and other senior lawyers, entrusted by the public to apply law to fact, took as fact stories on an internet conspiracy news site(see story below).

McKeogh  was also the Executive Officer who oversaw the questionable re-accreditation of the Communist Party China linked Sydney City School Of Law. The fact of its accreditation remains a scandal shrouded in mystery.



Despite these questions being unresolved, McKeogh has been transferred over the NSW Trustees and Guardians, where she is being entrusted with the personal affairs of hundreds if not thousands who rely on  NSW Trustees and Guardians to safeguard their financial interest.


TO BE READ WITH 







Saturday, May 6, 2023

NSW LPAB Executive Officer Siew Ting Tan McKeogh annual report non-disclosure issues one more thing that Department Of Justice head Michael Tidball must resolve

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 




R-L: Susan (Bastick) Carter Director, Law Extension Committee (LEC) at University of Sydney with Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC Governor of New South Wales and Siew McKeogh, Executive Officer of the LPAB. The LPAB oversees the LEC's Diploma in Law as it does the College Of Law. These associations have resulted in a wagon fort like protection of one another, to the point where statutory reporting obligations are being ignored, to the detriment of students and the legal profession in NSW.



The following was posted on a related blog on 12 April 2023:


NSW LPAB Executive Officer Siew Ting Tan McKeogh failed to disclose resignation and sudden departure of NSW Department Of Justice & LPAB officer Hayley Pollock, author of the document investigated by The Australian


The above adds to the non-disclosure issues that Michael Tidball, Secretary, Department Of Justice NSW must resolve. Tidball has survived the change in government and remains in the position. 





TO BE READ WITH 


Michael Tidball's Dept Of Justice NSW & its NSW LPAB breached NSW Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Regulations, other rules, by their failure to report investigation and expose by The Australian



July 25, 2022

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 



The NSW Annual Reports (Statutory Bodies) Regulations requires that agencies include information about the extent and main features of consumer complaints in their Annual reporting.  Page 19 of the NSW LPAB’s 2017-2018 Annual Report includes a section titled “Consumer response” on page 19. This section mentions seven items of feedback, three of which were complaints but  none refer to the NSW LPAB's response to  complaints made to it against the College Of Law Ltd and its conduct of the PLT course. The NSW LPAB has ongoing duties to oversee and accredit the College Of Law's PLT course. The College relies on the NSW LPAB for its AUD 50 Million per annum FEE HELP financed revenue.

The complaints were raised by this writer in the 2017-2018 financial year. The issue spilled over into the 2018-2019 financial year, and became subject of an investigation by The Australian, which reported the issue on 17 January 2019.

That investigation and the story in The Australian have also been excluded from the NSW Department Of Justice and NSW LPAB annual reports. The story in The Australian includes reference to the NSW LPAB's response to issues concerning the College Of Law.



TO BE READ WITH 



End of financial year raises issues for Michael Tidball, the new Secretary , Department Of Justice NSW, which arise from his past position as CEO, NSW Law Society




July 03, 2022

 






by Ganesh Sahathevan 


Michael Tidball

Michael Tidball,the recently appointed Secretary, Department Of Communities And Justice, faces his first end of financial year in that position.  He inherits the problems in the NSW LPAB and Department of Justice's past annual reports, but unlike his predecessors, he would have personal knowledge of the problems.

That is a result of his past position as CEO, NSW Law Society, where Tidball was made aware, and did not act on information about the NSW Law Society's College Of Law Ltd's conduct in Malaysia, and mishandling of the Professional Legal Training course.

These issues were brought to the attention of the NSW LPAB, which also chose to exclude those issues, and the action taken, in its 2018-2019 and subsequent annual reports. The NSW LPAB is part of the NSW Department Of Justice, and hence the Department's annual reports are also affected. 

TO BE READ WITH 


by Ganesh Sahathevan


The departure of the Legal Profession Admission Board's Executive Officer, Louise Pritchard, was reported nationally  in The Australian, 17 January 2019:



The body overseen by Chief Justice Tom Bathurst responsible for deciding who can practise law in NSW relied on a wildly defamatory Malaysian blog depicting ABC journalists, former British prime minister Tony Blair, financier George Soros and others as part of a global conspiracy when deciding to deny a would-be solicitor a certificate to practise.

Chief Justice Bathurst and Legal Practitioner Admission Board executive officer Louise Pritchard declined to answer The Australian’s questions about how the article came into the board’s hands and why its members felt the conspiracy-laden material could be relied upon as part of a decision to deny Sydney man Ganesh Sahathevan admission as a lawyer. Nor would either say which of the 10 members of the LPAB, three of whom are serving NSW Supreme Court judges, was on the deciding panel.

Ms Pritchard has left her role at the LPAB since The Australian began making inquiries in September. The article, published in December 2017 on website The Third Force, accuses Mr Sahathevan of engaging in a conspiracy to attack then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.


Mr Bathurst's problems of governance at the LPAB are not limited to the departure of his Executive Officer.
Her replacement, Tan Siew Ting McKeogh has brought additional problems. As reported,  the appointment of Tan Siew Ting McKeogh as Executive Officer LPAB adds to governance ,reporting issues at the LPAB, Department of Justice.


Compounding all of the above is the fact that Mr Bathurst and his LPAB continue to defend the College Of Law Sydney's management of the PLT programme, despite historical and ongoing complaints about its delivery and substance.

As a result of the inaction the College continues to receive some AUD 40-50 Million in Commonwealth Government FEE HELP funding, without which it is unlikely to survive. 



END 



AND




Bizarre blog claims used to deny man right to practise law
                 Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

EXCLUSIVE



The body overseen by Chief Justice Tom Bathurst responsible for deciding who can practise law in NSW relied on a wildly defamatory Malaysian blog depicting ABC journalists, former British prime minister Tony Blair, financier George Soros and others as part of a global conspiracy when deciding to deny a would-be solicitor a certificate to practise.

Chief Justice Bathurst and Legal Practitioner Admission Board executive officer Louise Pritchard declined to answer The Australian’s questions about how the article came into the board’s hands and why its members felt the conspiracy-laden material could be relied upon as part of a decision to deny Sydney man Ganesh Sahathevan admission as a lawyer. Nor would either say which of the 10 members of the LPAB, three of whom are serving NSW Supreme Court judges, was on the deciding panel.

Ms Pritchard has left her role at the LPAB since The Australian began making inquiries in September. The article, published in December 2017 on website The Third Force, accuses Mr Sahathevan of engaging in a conspiracy to attack then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
Posted 14th August 2019 by 



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Sunday, November 9, 2025

UiTM's Australian Professor found to have sold practical legal training courses that are not fit for purpose-Findings by the Chief Justice NSW Andrew Bell latest chapter in the story of Neville Carter, who claims to have identified and cured "gaps" in Malaysian legal practice

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 




The Chief Justice Of NSW Andrew Bell and his NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, which he chairs, has  declared that  the College Of Law Australia's Professional Legal Practise course is  not fit for purpose.

The Chief Justice's declaration is the latest chapter in a year long war against The College of Law Australia's poor standards

The College has been led for over 30 years by its immediate past CEO , Neville Carter, who has made  claims about his role in  improving legal practice in Malaysia, which he and the College used as part of their advertising. 


TO BE READ WITH 

Saturday, May 5, 2018

UiTM's Australian Professor says he identified and cured "gaps" in Malaysian legal practice

by Ganesh Sahathevan


UiTM's  Professor Neville Carter, an Australian who taught  at the then MARA Institute of Technology in Shah Alam for a year in 1985-86, claims that he identified and cured "gaps"  in Malaysian legal practice (not just legal training) while at MARA, now known as UiTM.








Nevilla Carter had worked in a number
of small firms, including one he owned with
three others, before arriving in Malaysia
in 1985.

Carter says on his Linkedin profile:


I was seconded (between 85-86 for one year) from the College of Law, to UiTM in Malaysia to create a fourth advanced year of study that would enable law graduates to secure legal practice skills and qualify for immediate admission to legal practice. The course successfully addressed gaps in law practice in Malaysia.

The issue of Carter's pivotal role in changing the course of Malaysian law  practice( not merely MARA's legal courses) comes back into focus  given a recent visit to UiTM, to mark a renewal of ties between UiTM ,Carter and the College Of Law in Sydney,Australia. 


The reaction  from lawyers in Malaysia has been one of amusement.None, except a few who were at MARA in the 80s, have ever  heard of him. His name was certainly not one that was heard mentioned among  KL and Selangor legal circles, but then even Van Gogh was not known outside his village when he painted his multi-million dollar masterpieces. 

Be that all as it may, Carter and his College are about to  unleash even more ground  breaking programs in Malaysia, Singapore and the region. As this writer has recently reported:



EN D

Neville Carter

Board Director at The College of Law Australia

The College of Law Australia

  

  University of Sydney


Experience





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