Ministry of Justice

Liability and penalty / relationship with a prisoner for whom the practitioner had previously acted as an employee lawyer / practitioner’s employer declined to act for the prisoner, but the practitioner continued contact in dishonest circumstances / whether conduct misconduct / Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, section 7(1)(a) / Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008, rule 2 / rule 2.4 / rule 5.7 / rule 11.1 / rule 12 / HELD / conduct occurred while providing regulated services / conduct disgraceful and dishonourable / serious end of misconduct spectrum / breach of relationship of trust and degree of deception involved / mitigating factor that practitioner had only worked as an employee lawyer for three months prior / offending lasted six days / Tribunal ordered 12-month suspension and prohibited to practice on own account until authorised by Tribunal / practitioner to pay half of costs sought by Standards Committee ($7,000) and Tribunal’s costs

Penalty / misconduct for corresponding with another person in an offensive, abusive and threatening manner / District Court granted harassment order against practitioner and condemned conduct / HELD / survey of principles of deterrence and denunciation / at the most serious end of the scale / aggravating factors include repeated nature of conduct, use of language against unrepresented party, misogyny in abusive comments, persistent conduct after being told to stop, and the lack of prompt apology and insight / mitigating that practitioner pled guilty, previous good character, and the effect of suspension on practitioner’s financial commitments and clients / Tribunal ordered four-month suspension and censure / practitioner to pay Standards Committee’s and Tribunal’s costs

Penalty / unsatisfactory conduct for failing to pay compensation as ordered in a timely manner / HELD / full range of penalties available when unsatisfactory conduct charged proved, but misconduct is more serious than unsatisfactory conduct / failure to comply with disciplinary sanctions typically considered unsatisfactory conduct / LCRO reviewed compensation order / non-compliance with order runs from date of LCRO decision / Tribunal ordered censure, practitioner to compensate client $600 for loss of use of money, and to pay $6,000 fine and Standards Committee’s full costs, and Tribunal’s costs

Decision on interlocutory application.  Date of decision: 4 March 2021.  

Penalty / misconduct for providing regulated services to the public other than in the course of her employment / inadvertent but serious technical breach of s 9(1) / lawfully provided trust administration services prior to admission / Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, section 9(1) / HELD / continued to carry on trust administration while employed as solicitor / mitigating factors include unintentional breach, conduct stopped in 2015, and otherwise blameless record / name suppression declined as threshold to displace presumption of open justice not reached / risk to current firm is slight / Tribunal ordered censure / practitioner to pay Standards Committee’s and Tribunal’s costs

Penalty / unsatisfactory conduct for failing to rectify e-dealing issue in a timely manner / misconduct for failing to comply with investigator’s request for a client file and failing to comply with a costs order / practitioner has history of not engaging in a timely manner / HELD / Tribunal ordered nine-month suspension and censure / practitioner to pay Standards Committee’s and Tribunal’s costs / supporting arguments for name suppression advanced without evidence / name suppression refused

Decision on Costs.  Date of Decision: 11 November 2020. 

Penalty / Tribunal previously found misconduct / practitioner breached duty of confidentiality to client by talking to media without client’s consent / whether practitioner should be suspended / HELD / profession’s reputation affected as a member of the public complained about the breach / no indication general deterrence required / practitioner will have a misconduct finding and suffer embarrassment of publication of his name in relation to a case of public interest / Tribunal ordered censure / practitioner to pay Standards Committee’s and Tribunal’s costs / interim suppression order discharged

Penalty / practitioner negligently or incompetently represented client and tried to stop them from pursuing complaint / whether strike off justified / Hart v Auckland Standards Committee 1 [2013] 3 NZLR 103 / Otago Standards Committee v Claver [2019] NZLCDT 8 / HELD / practitioner demonstrated lack of insight / practitioner pursuing client for unpaid fees, refusing to acknowledge the services were not worth a fee / previous disciplinary history an aggravating factor / showed no insight, did not accept responsibility / no mitigating factors / conduct fell short of the accumulation of wrongdoings in Hart / on one file alone, strike-off would be harsh / ordered 30-month suspension, for practitioner to cancel all fees for work undertaken and withdraw claim against client / practitioner to pay Standards Committee’s costs and $7,253 of Tribunal’s costs / client should not have to pay costs for application for rehearing / copy of decision to be sent to Disputes Tribunal and client

Penalty / legal executive admitted misconduct for multiple occasions of copying signatures on to documents / whether employees should be held to lower standard than practitioners / Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, section 3 / section 11 / Wellington Standards Committee 1 v Nalder [2015] NZLCDT 5 / Taranaki Standards Committee v Flitcroft [2010] NZLCDT 36 / HELD / legal executive initially denied allegations / subsequent acceptance of responsibility was “late, partial and grudging” / perceived workplace to be toxic and unsupportive, no evidence to that effect / actions taken to cover up documentation failures / Tribunal considered indefinite prohibition for law employment not appropriate / legal executive not in a strong financial position, fine not appropriate / Tribunal imposed 12-month prohibition on employment / ordered censure / no costs order against legal executive, as they were legally aided

Liability and penalty / practitioner charged with providing misinformation and/or omissions in job interview with a law firm, and breaching an undertaking to a Standards Committee / Tribunal determined practitioner waived their right to appear / HELD / dishonourable conduct by making a false declaration and deceptive omissions and falsehoods, and failing to disclose unsatisfactory conduct findings and supervision requirements for certifying e-dealings / alternatively, grossly negligent so as to bring profession into disrepute / conduct goes beyond “unacceptable” or “unprofessional” conduct / misconduct found / practitioner breached undertaking to Standards Committee to undergo further training / Tribunal ordered censure and three-month suspension / practitioner to pay $16,000 of Standards Committee’s costs and reimburse full Tribunal’s costs / Tribunal considered total Standards Committee costs of $22,315.20 somewhat higher than normal

Liability and penalty / unsatisfactory conduct / trust account inspection orders / failure to comply with inspection order and education order / failure to note deadlines and prioritise tasks to comply with order / practitioner has since complied with orders / Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, section 241(c) / HELD / conduct not disgraceful or dishonourable / by a fine margin, did not disregard professional obligations / partially complied with order as to fine and costs / conduct not negligent or incompetent per s 241(c) as conduct did not occur so frequently and was not so serious as to bring profession into disrepute / unsatisfactory conduct found / Tribunal ordered censure and $3,750 fine / practitioner to pay Standards Committee’s and Tribunal’s costs / ceased operating trust account on agreed basis

Penalty / practitioner misappropriated funds from clients / accepted four misconduct charges and consented to strike-off order / HELD / strike-off order proper / offending aggravated by clients residing overseas, two elderly clients residing in rest homes, and one client being an estate with charities as beneficiaries / offending mitigated by prior blemish-free disciplinary record / costs decision mitigated by quick admission of wrongdoing and cooperation with disciplinary process / Tribunal ordered practitioner be struck off / practitioner to pay 75 per cent of Standards Committee’s costs and 75 per cent of the Tribunal’s costs / permanent name suppression for practitioner’s clients