A south Donegal solicitor was hit with monetary sanctions totalling €14,900 last year by a tribunal investigating complaints of misconduct against lawyers.
The penalty against John Murray, practising at Reid & Sweeney, Ballyshannon, was one of 20 imposed on solicitors found guilty of various levels of misconduct by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (LPDT).
On 31 January, 2024, the LPDT found him guilty of nine counts of misconduct.
On one count, it was found that Murray ‘caused, permitted or allowed’ a deficit of €133,980 in the client account as of 30 September, 2019, and allowed a debit balance to arise on the client ledger. The other charges related to various failures to comply with the provisions of the Criminal Justice Acts and, in particular, contravening section 54 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.
These included “not having policies, controls and procedures in place that specified the solicitor’s obligation regarding the assessment and management of risks of money-laundering or terrorist financing in order to prevent and detect the commission of money-laundering and terrorist financing”.
Murray was directed to pay €10,000 to a compensation fund and a further €4,900 in legal costs.
The tribunal also ordered that a condition be imposed on Murray’s practising certificate that: A. for a period of two years from the date of the decision, he must submit biannual accountant’s reports to the Law Society, and B: for a period of two years from the date of the decision, all payments from the respondent’s client account(s) be co-signed by ‘a person of good standing’ to be approved by the society.
The sanctions, imposed on solicitors around the country between July 2023 and December 31, 2024, were recently published by the LPDT.
The vast majority of cases related to the failure of solicitors to provide the Law Society with end-of-year accountant’s reports within six months, resulting in relatively minor fines ranging between €500 and €3,000, plus legal costs.
In five cases, however, solicitors were each ordered to pay €10,000 to the compensation fund.
But the most serious case published involved Patrick McGonagle, who practised as McGonagle Solicitors in Dundrum, Dublin 14, who was ordered to pay €403,179 to the compensation fund and €4,016 in legal costs.
The LPDT began hearing cases in mid-2023, taking over a role previously played by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and the Barristers’ Professional Conduct Tribunal. It deals with allegations of misconduct referred to it by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) and the Law Society.
Sanctions for inadequate legal services and overcharging are handled by the LSRA.
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