Cork solicitor struck off for professional misconduct

A West Cork solicitor has been struck off after being found guilty of a series of charges of professional misconduct by the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal.

Alexander Gibbons, who operated a practice Gibbons & Co at Riverside, Kent St, Clonakilty, can no longer practice as a solicitor following confirmation of the ruling by the High Court.

Among eight findings of professional misconduct made against Mr Gibbons was one that he had paid €63,000 received from a client for stamp duty into his own personal bank account in Jan 2008.

He was also found guilty of fabricating letters on the files of clients and failing to register mortgages in relation to a number of properties in Cork.

He had also falsely accused clients of not paying stamp duty when they had, while he also failed to respond to several requests from the Law Society for copies of documentation.

Details of the striking off of the Clonakilty solicitor have been published in the latest edition of the Law Society Gazette.

Last year, the High Court heard a series of allegations that Mr Gibbons had withdrawn large sums of money from his firm’s client account for his own benefit.

The High Court also ordered Mr Gibbons to pay the costs of the tribunal and court proceedings.

In a separate case, a Ballincollig solicitor was ordered to pay €1,000 compensation plus €3,500 legal costs after he was found guilty on eight grounds of professional misconduct by the tribunal.

Niall Murphy who runs his own practice at Ballincollig Town Centre, allowed deficits of more than €173,000 build up in his firm in 2008 in breach of the profession’s regulations as a result of overpayments to clients as well as transferring €41,180 from client ledgers to his office account and a general failure to keep proper books of account.