Mike Pero stops his law firm from acting against him

Mike Pero

Mike Pero has successfully stopped a major law firm acting in a court case brought against him by the mortgage business he set up more than 20 years ago.

Mike Pero Mortgages - which claims to be New Zealand's largest mortgage broking company - has filed two different sets of High Court proceedings against Pero or a firm he directs.

Although he is its public face and founder, Pero does not own any of the mortgage business anymore and left its board in June of this year.

Since then the mortgage company has launched action against him and a business called Mike Pero Marketing.

Both the marketing and the mortgage firms are joint-shareholders of the company which owns Mike Pero Real Estate, a separate business of which Pero is chief executive.

The allegations in the proceedings were kept under wraps last month by a High Court judge when Pero applied to stop law firm Buddle Findlay acting for the mortgage business in the case.

Pero had enjoyed a relationship with Buddle Findlay for seven years, the court heard, and the firm was already acting for Pero on unrelated litigation in Christchurch when it was instructed by the mortgage business for the present disputes.

Pero told the Herald this morning that Associate Judge Associate Judge Matthews yesterday restrained Buddle Findlay from acting for the mortgage business.

"I raised the conflict of interest immediately when I heard they had decided to act for and against me," he said in a statement.

" I thought from the beginning they could not possibly be serious. I spent weeks trying to persuade Buddle Findlay against what I considered to be unethical. I wasn't so much worried about my information being shared as the loyalty factor. I'm in business like thousands of others in New Zealand. I have respect for my customers and I would never consider trying to attack them while they are paying me for my professional services," Pero said.

"The decision by the judge... reiterates the need for law firms to consider their ethics before they proceed in a potential conflict situation," he said.