Leuatea Iosefa has been permitted to practise again, but with limitations
No-longer-ex-lawyer Leuatea Iosefa has been allowed to practise again after being struck off nearly two decades ago for stealing a client’s life savings, reported the NZ Herald.
Iosefa went before a tribunal last month after submitting an application for a practising certificate that was challenged by the New Zealand Law Society as well as four other practising lawyers. Iosefa told the tribunal in a statement published by the Herald that he was “a different person now”.
In 2008, he admitted to taking $83,700 from an elderly client while practising as a barrister in Christchurch. A court sentenced him to four months’ detention for the offence, and he was struck from the roll of barristers and solicitors.
He told the tribunal that the matter had stemmed from a decision motivated by pride to not get assistance for his financial problems, choosing to use his access to his client’s money to pay off debts. In 2006, the client filed a complaint to the Law Society, spurring an investigation.
Iosefa eventually repaid his client in full, but was ordered by a court to fork over another $20,000 as reparation. He also went to counselling after being sentenced.
Richard Moon, who acted as counsel for the Law Society’s Standards Committee, questioned whether the counselling, which Iosefa attended over a decade ago, was adequate to address his offence.
“Where you have [this] kind of offending you can’t simply rely on the individual’s word for their insight”, he said in a statement published by the Herald.
Nonetheless, in a ruling publicised earlier this month, the tribunal determined that Iosefa was fit to return to the legal profession.
“Mr Iosefa convinced us that he has been humbled, not only by public and family exposure of his weak conduct but also by reflection as time has gone by,” the tribunal said in a statement published by the Herald. “We are satisfied that he has achieved insight into the factors that led to his vulnerability. We are satisfied that he has regained his good character.”
The tribunal pointed to Iosefa’s completion of a Master’s degree and a PhD in Law, his contribution of cultural reports to be used in criminal courts, and his knowledge of Samoan language and culture as assets he could bring to the profession.
However, the tribunal imposed that for two years, Iosefa can only practise as a law firm employee and not on his own account.
