A Napier lawyer has been struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors for what New Zealand Law Society president Chris Moore says constituted "total abandonment of professionalism" in acting for conflicting parties in a property sale.
The decision against Gerald McKay was announced yesterday, four years after McKay voluntarily handed in his certificate and was suspended from practice.
McKay, a lawyer in Napier for 42 years, however, is appealing the decision from a hearing held last month and at which he was found guilty on one charge of professional misconduct in acting for "a number of parties in a series of transactions where there were strongly conflicting interests".
He "failed to provide independent advice to his client, who subsequently lost her home to a purchaser for whom Mr McKay was acting," a statement said.
The tribunal ordered McKay to contribute $70,000 to Standards Committee costs and reimburse the Law Society for hearing costs of $14,812.
