Lawyer suspended from legal practice
Lawyer suspended from legal practice
The New
Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has
suspended a lawyer from legal practice.
Boon Hong has been suspended for a period of 10 months from 25 July 2014 and has also been censured.
The tribunal upheld a charge of misconduct brought by the New Zealand Law Society for a flagrant breach of a standards committee order following an earlier finding of unsatisfactory conduct.
Mr Hong, of Auckland, was suspended for wilfully disobeying an order of a standards committee that he attend a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) course.
The tribunal held that this type of offending needs to be marked with a firm response in order that the institutions of professional discipline are not undermined.
Law Society National Prosecutions Manager Mark Treleaven says complying with standards committee orders is fundamental to the regulatory requirements of all lawyers.
“Members of the public entrust their personal affairs to legal practitioners and are entitled to know that the Law Society will not treat lightly serious breaches of expected standards by a member of the legal profession.”
Mr Hong was ordered to pay the Law Society $20,786 for legal costs and reimburse hearing costs.
ends