A Dublin solicitor, Mr Giles P. Kennedy, who claimed the Law Society had a hidden agenda when it inspected his practice eight years ago, has won his Supreme Court appeal against a High Court decision that the society had carried out a proper investigation.
Mr Kennedy, who practises at Eccles Street, Dublin, had alleged the Law Society, under the guise of looking at his firm's accounts, was in fact carrying out an inspection in which it was seeking individuals making bogus claims.
Giving the Supreme Court decision yesterday, Mr Justice Murphy found the society's investigation of the possibility of fraudulent claims was not authorised under the solicitors 1984 regulations and remitted the matter back to the High Court for the purposes of assessing damages (if any) to be awarded to Mr Kennedy.
Before deciding whether Mr Kennedy was entitled to damages, Mr Justice Murphy said it seemed appropriate the Supreme Court should first decide, at a future hearing, whether the appointment of the society's accountant was defective in whole or in part and whether the report prepared by the accountant could be relied on by the society for "any purpose".
It would also be necessary to consider the nature of the order to be made by the Supreme Court, he added.
The matter should be brought before the court at a convenient date.
The High Court had accepted the society's argument that its regulations provided that an "investigating accountant" enjoyed "unfettered access to the files of a solicitor under investigation . . ."
However, Mr Justice Murphy said, an investigating accountant was not empowered to investigate fraudulent claims processed by a solicitor.