The Gazette 1975

1. Every solicitor shall keep such books and account as may be necessary to show in con- nection with his practice all moneys received from or on account of and all moneys paid to or on account of each of his rlicnts; 2. Every solicitor shall at least once in each year prepare such Balance Sheet and Statement in connection with his practice as will show in summary form all moneys held for or on account his clients and where and how at the date of such Balance Sheet and Statement he holds said moneys in safe-keeping and available for Payment." Section 34 provides that if any solicitor fails or e glects to observe or comply with any of the i l l a t i o n s made under the last preceding section the ciety or any person may make a complaint in Aspect of that failure or neglect to the Committee, meaning the Disciplinary Committee. Another complaint concerned the false declaration allegedly made by the solicitor in order to obtain a P I a ^ t , s i n 8 certificate for the year ending 5th January, 72- To make such a declaration wilfully has been e i d to be unbefitting conduct in England and is covered by section 19 of our Act generally. Failure to obtain a practising certificate and holding oneself out hereafter as a practising solicitor is covered speci- a l l y by section 38 and section 39 of the Act. . n looking at these charges I am conscious that bey m u s t b e p r o v e ( j 5 e y 0 n ( j reasonable doubt since e y affect a solicitor in a criminal or quasi-criminal ^ ay and arc of great moment to him professionally. find all the charges to have been proved. Looking a the first charge it is obvious that no proper fecounts were kept and, so far as the second charge Is C o n c e r ned, it is quite clear that there has been no P r °per Balance Sheet and Statement as required by J" e gulation 2. One can see that quite easily from look- I n g a t the correspondence, with notice of which the oiicitor was affected because he was told of its ° n * n t s , and by looking at the report of Messrs. jMkinson and Boyd, which was similarly brought to , s notice. These are serious matters and one can appreciate that from the fact that the Legislature has applied the provisions of Part II of the Act (of which etion 21 is a part) to complaints in relation to section 34. The third charge is connected with making a false ^ t i o n , viz. that proper accounts had been kept, mch is a necessary declaration to make in order to fal a p r a c t i s i n S certificate. I am satisfied that the : declaration was wilfully made and not nadvertently. It may be that the solicitor did not ppreciate the gravity of the false declaration but I ™ quite clear that he did appreciate its falsity. I 0 n ] n o t a c c e p t his explanation, the lameness of which y serves to show that it is not true, a s l- 1 ? t h e f o u r t h charge of holding himself out as is cl C l t ° r W h e n h e h a d n o P r a c t i s i n S certificate, it solir> ar t 0 m e t h a t a m a n o f t h e experience of this not h W a s d o i n g t h i s deliberately and that he could wo u l d ! 6 p r o d u c e d the accounts in good faith which have properly led him to be granted a practis-

ing certificate for the years imding 5th January, 1973 and 1974. I come now to the fifth charge which is one of failing to reply to the Law Society's queries. This again has been held to be unbefitting conduct in England and is undoubtedly covered by section 19 of our Act. I hasten to add that I am not concerned here with an alleged breach of duty to the solicitor's clients, although in fact the Law Society's queries originated from complaints made by the clients of the solicitor which mainly concerned his alleged delays in dealing with their affairs. I am not, however, to-day concerned with this and I appreciate that com- plaints of this kind may be well-grounded or other- wise in different circumstances. It is not important for that reason, and that reason only, for me to comment on the relationship between a solicitor and his client for the purpose of this hearing. Having found all these charges proved, I have to consider the appropriate step to take under section 21. I do not think that a fine is the appropriate remedy. That solution may sometimes be used, as may censure, to act as a sharp reminder to a solicitor who has erred but who may safely be permitted to continue in practice when one has marked the occasion of is default. The choice here is between suspension and directing the striking off of the name of this solicitor from the rolls. In making that choice I bear in mind that on the evidence before me no turpitude involving clients has been shown. There is no evidence of repetition in the face of previous warnings or previous punishments. 1 take into con- sideration the bomb damage to this solicitor's office. It does not provide an excuse, but it is a strong ground of sympathy with him. I digress to say that about a year ago I ordered the suspension until further order of another solicitor from Londonderry, a Mr. Thompson. The circumstances were somewhat different in that the complaint did not come to me as a result of a hearing in front of the Disciplinary Committee but directly based on section 39, which dealt with holding himself out as a solicitor without having a practising certificate. The order was made to suspend that solicitor until further order because he was so practising and required to be stopped from doing so. Therefore there is no real parallel to be drawn, but at the time there is a relative standard of justice which appeals to the ordinary man and which militates against my striking the name of this solicitor off the rolls when I consider that all that I was asked to do under section 39 in the circum- stances of Mr. Thompson's case was to suspend him from practice. This solicitor has evinced the inability to carry out the ordinary routine of a solicitor's practice. It may be partly or largely due to the performance of his duties as a coroner but, whatever may be the reason, there is a danger to the public in allowing a solicitor who has reached that stage to continue to hold himself out as a practising solicitor. One has to deal here with an accumulation of serious breaches of a solicitor's duty and serious defaults which indicate that he is not in a position to carry out his duties to the public in an adequate manner and 47