TWO solicitors were yesterday fined €100,000 each for professional misconduct after a judge said he wanted to send out a message that dishonesty would not be tolerated in the legal profession.

LAST November Taoiseach Bertie Ahern expressed his dissatisfaction with the legal profession’s self-regulation. The system does not work and a new one is necessary, he admitted to the Dáil.

TWO Co Mayo solicitors have been fined a total of €50,000 after being found guilty of professional misconduct by the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal for accounting irregularities which were described as “systematic off-the-books trading”.