Alwyn O'Connor was struck off for taking $150,000 from a client's bank account
Lawyer Alwyn O’Connor, who was found guilty of taking money from a client, is seeking to appeal his removal from the roll of barristers and solicitors, reported the NZ Herald.
O’Connor’s appeal against the ruling issued the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal is set to be heard in the High Court in August. The lawyer asked for the tribunal’s strike-off order to be held until that month.
According to practitioner Gordon Paine, who is representing O’Connor, O’Connor is requesting a limited retainer. In a statement to the Wellington High Court, Paine said that O’Connor sought to “fulfil his obligations, especially for those who are normally deprived of access to justice”. O’Connor was looking to offer legal services pro bono for vulnerable clients, and Paine argued that O’Connor ought to be commended for this.
The tribunal denied O’Connor the right to practise law after finding that he had been withdrawing money from a client’s bank account $150,000 over a number of years. While O’Connor returned most of the funds, another $25,000 went missing while the client was in jail.
Nikki Pender, counsel for the standards committee and the prosecutor in O’Connor’s case, countered that given O’Connor’s record, it was inappropriate for him to continue acting for anyone since he had already taken advantage of a vulnerable client. She pointed to O’Connor’s existing history of dishonesty offences even before he received his practising certificate in 2014.
O’Connor had also previously been imprisoned for child assault.
“There is a concern for the overall profession in terms of allowing a lawyer with that history and these findings to continue practising”, Pender said in a statement published by the Herald.
Justice Christine Grace is expected to issue her decision on O’Connor’s case in writing.
In addition to striking O’Connor’s name from the roll, the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal had ordered O’Connor to pay $140,000 in legal costs and compensation to the Law Society and to his client.
