Comesky to pay $66,000 to Law Society

Chris Comeskey admitted charges of professional misconduct. Photo / Brett Phibbs

High profile Auckland lawyer Chris Comeskey must pay costs of more than $66,000 to the body that suspended him from practising law nine months.

On July 15 the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal cancelled his legal aid contract, ordered him to pay two-thirds of the cost of setting up the tribunal and despite being in law for 15 years, said he must engage a mentor before he resumed practice.

In a decision released yesterday it said Mr Comeskey must pay costs of $66,397 to the New Zealand Law Society.

Mr Comeskey admitted professional misconduct charges, including billing the Legal Services Agency for thousands of dollars for court appearances he never made and misleading the Court of Appeal.

In its decision, the tribunal said it considered while Mr Comeskey may not have intentionally misled the Court of Appeal, he was nevertheless "negligent and incompetent" in this matter.

Of his legal services billing the tribunal said it had difficulty deciding if his misconduct warranted being struck off.

"Did his behaviour involve blatant dishonesty? On balance, we believe not. We were influenced on this matter by the fact that Mr Comeskey never wavered from his frank admission that he was not a good businessman, that he did not ever see the invoices that were prepared by others, and that he thought his invoicing practise was unexceptional."

While that was a "wholly unacceptable" disregard for his legal obligations, it fell just short of blatant dishonesty, the tribunal said.

Mr Comeskey is known for defending high-profile clients including Millie Elder, stepdaughter of broadcaster Paul Holmes, who appeared on drug charges, Bruce Emery, who was convicted of stabbing to death a teenage tagger, and wife-killer Nai Yin Xue - the father of abandoned girl "Pumpkin".

He was also involved with brokering the return of the stolen gallantry medals from Waiouru Army Museum.

- NZPA