The Law Society has initiated court proceedings against a solicitor who has given an undertaking not to practise and who has surrendered his chequebooks. The proceedings were briefly before the High Court yesterday but the solicitor was not named.
The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, said he had read the papers in the case and the matters were "serious but not as serious as those in the other cases", an apparent reference to solicitors Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne, whose practices have been closed by the Law Society and who have estimated multi-million liabilities arising from alleged mortgage fraud.
Jack Fitzgerald SC, for the solicitor, said he was concerned about publicity and asked that it be heard in private. This had serious implications, he said.
Paul Anthony McDermott, for the Law Society, said it had brought its application on notice to the respondent solicitor and believed there was no reason why the matter should not be heard in public. This would prevent rumours circulating and other solicitors being put under suspicion.
This case did not have the "same level of seriousness" as the other cases but, if it was heard in private, people might believe it was as serious and the rumours could be worse than the reality.
Mr McDermott accepted Mr Fitzgerald had just been given the papers in the case and the society would not oppose his having an opportunity to study those.
Mr Fitzgerald said he had agreed last Tuesday that the proceedings could be served at shorter notice than was required under court rules. However, he had just seen the papers 15 minutes earlier and this was not proper short service. He repeated that he was concerned about publicity.
Mr Fitzgerald also said that an alleged deficit had been mentioned in the society's case documents and he had instructions that the figure referred to had been reduced to about 20 or 25 per cent of what was stated.
Mr Justice Johnson said there was a distinction between whether the case should be heard in private and the notice provided to the respondent solicitor. The matter "is serious but not nearly as serious as the others".
Mr Justice Johnson said he would not hear the case in private at this point but he would give the solicitor liberty to file an affidavit. He would return the case to Monday when Mr Fitzgerald could renew his application to have proceedings heard in private.
The judge said he would also like undertakings to be given in the same terms as the orders sought by the society against the solicitor. Mr Fitzgerald said his client's chequebooks had been surrendered to his acting solicitor, there would be no payments out and his client had no problem with an undertaking not to practise.
On that basis, Mr Justice Johnson adjourned to Monday.
