Solicitor to have licence restricted

THE High Court is to be asked to place restrictions from practising on a Dublin solicitor who allowed shortfalls of over €425,000 to build up in his client accounts, after he was found guilty of professional misconduct.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal recommended that Charles O’Neill, who had operated a practice in Rathmines for almost 20 years, should have his licence to practice restricted after it found he had shown “continuous disregard” for regulations governing the legal profession.

The 58-year-old solicitor admitted eight charges of professional misconduct, most of which related to his handling of client accounts.

In a majority decision, the three-person tribunal recommended that Mr O’Neill should only be allowed practice as a solicitor under the supervision and control of another solicitor approved by the Law Society who was qualified for a period in excess of 10 years. It also ruled he should not be allowed to be a partner in any solicitor’s practice.

The tribunal also censured Mr O’Neill and recommended he be fined a sum to be fixed by the High Court as well as ordering him to pay the costs of the hearing. The decision must now be formally ratified by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Richard Johnson.

The tribunal heard Mr O’Neill accepted he was guilty of professional misconduct for failing to maintain proper books of accounts as well as allowing shortfalls of €401,400 and €23,849 to build up in the accounts of two separate clients.

The solicitor also accepted that he had used client accounts to pay office and personal expenses and had failed to maintain separate ledge accounts for clients. In addition, Mr O’Neill agreed that he had allowed property deeds belonging to his largest client to be intermixed.

Seán Sexton, solicitor for Mr O’Neill, said the shortfalls in client accounts were due to oversights which had been rectified once they had been drawn to Mr O’Neill’s attention. He also said Mr O’Neill had ceased to practice since last March and had no source of income.