Lawyer suspended for selling tinnie

Anthony Paul Blair has been suspended from legal practice for three years for selling a tinnie to an undercover police officer.

A lawyer has been suspended for three years for selling a "tinnie" to an undercover police officer.

Anthony Paul Blair, also known as Paul Anthony, has been suspended from legal practice by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for three years from March 12.

Blair, who is not currently practising law, admitted a disciplinary charge of having been convicted of offences punishable by imprisonment which reflected on his fitness to practise or tended to bring the profession into disrepute.

He had earlier been found guilty of two charges in the Hamilton District Court of selling cannabis and possessing cannabis for the purpose of sale contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.

He sold one cannabis tinnie for $20 to an undercover police officer and at the time of sale was also holding three other tinnies in his hand.

New Zealand Law Society Prosecutions Manager Mark Treleaven said the tribunal's decision was entirely justified.

"This is a serious matter which has marred the high standard of conduct that is expected of every lawyer in New Zealand," he said.

Last July the Supreme Court declined Blair an application for leave to appeal his conviction.

Read the court's decision here.