A Co Cork solicitor is facing restrictions on his work after a disciplinary panel resolved to seek High Court sanctions over a case in which he was found guilty of professional misconduct for a third time in four years.
Mallow-based John Moylan went before a Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (LPDT) panel on Thursday after it found in July that he failed to provide adequate services to an elderly client with dementia. He was also found to have failed to respond adequately or at all to the client’s granddaughter, who was his carer.
The High Court will be asked to prohibit Mr Moylan from practising other than under supervision.
He is also facing censure, a €1,500 payment to the complainant for restitution and a bill to pay the entirety of the costs incurred in the case by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA). Such costs are currently estimated to be in the region of €15,000.
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The sanctions to be sought by the tribunal are less severe than those sought by the LSRA. It had recommended suspending Mr Moylan from practice for three months and then requiring him to work only under supervision for 33 months.
However, lay chairman of the LPDT panel Dónall Curtin said it was not seeking suspension because Mr Moylan had indicated he planned to wind down his practice – Richard Moylan & Co of Shortcastle, Mallow – and then retire. Aged 72, he has been a solicitor since 1977.
The findings of misconduct were serious and reflected the need to protect the public, Mr Curtin said. While noting Mr Moylan had accepted the facts of the case, Mr Curtin said the solicitor’s “insight was limited”.
He was found to have failed to engage with the LRSA investigation. In addition, the LPDT found his explanations for inaction were “not credible”.
The findings against Mr Moylan were serious in circumstances where he had a previous disciplinary record, Mr Curtin added. “The tribunal considers these as aggravating circumstances.”
Mr Moylan was found in July to have failed to carry out instructions in 2020 from the late Patrick “Patsy” Barrett to execute an enduring power of attorney (EPA).
An EPA is a legal device that can be set up by a person to allow another individual look after their financial or personal affairs if they no longer have the capacity to do so themselves.
He was also found to have not to have responded adequately or at all to Mr Barrett’s granddaughter, Jacqui Owen, when she asked him to register the EPA with the Register of Wards of Court when Mr Barrett lost capacity in 2022. It transpired only later that Mr Moylan had failed to execute the EPA for Mr Barrett, who died earlier this year.
Ms Owen was the complainant in the case.
Elaine Finneran BL, for the LSRA, argued that a short suspension would be appropriate to reflect the seriousness of the findings of misconduct. “The authority is concerned that there is a real threat to the public and the reputation of the profession.”
In a separate case in 2024, the LPDT found Mr Moylan guilty of misconduct for failing to submit to the Law Society an accountant’s report for the year to October 2022.
In another case in 2022, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Mr Moylan guilty of misconduct for falsely claiming to have witnessed a client sign documents linked to her husband’s company which had been forged.
