Further details are going to be advised as soon as possible, the council says.
Stirling was born and raised in Kihikihi, studied law at Waikato University and previously worked as a commercial lawyer in Hamilton and in the King Country.
He opened his own law firm, Stirling Legal, in Te Awamutu in 2019, focusing on commercial and property law and asset protection.
The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal suspension, announced yesterday, is effective from December 22, 2022.
The Standards Committee has laid two charges before the tribunal relating to the inappropriate use of trust funds and causing a loss to his bank.
The tribunal noted that the first charge was based on affidavit evidence that Stirling had deceived his bank or misappropriated funds advanced for a purported settlement by diverting funds for his own use.
The bank suffered a net loss of $85,000.
Charge two indicated that Stirling’s trust account dealings had been irregular for some time.
Stirling told the Law Society Inspectorate that he would repay the money to the banks, which led them to comment that he did not seem to appreciate that obtaining and using the advance for his own personal reasons was wrong and that he was a risk to the public and any bankers that he may engage.
Stirling is suspended from practice on an interim basis until the charges are disposed of.
