A solicitor has taken High Court proceedings to quash a report by the Law Society investigating accounting matters at his practice and to halt an inquiry by the society's Disciplinary Tribunal into his conduct.
Mr Justice O'Donovan yesterday granted leave to Mr Kiran P. O'Duffy, principal solicitor in the firm of O'Duffy and Associates, Blessington Street, Dublin, to seek orders prohibiting the society, through its Compensation Fund Committee, to quash the investigating accountant's report, dated October 29th, 2002. He is also seeking orders to stop the committee forwarding certain matters to the Law Society's Disciplinary Tribunal.
The application for leave to initiate judicial review proceedings was made by Mr James Gilhooly SC, for Mr O'Duffy, who said his client was challenging the Compensation Fund Committee's decision to refer to the Disciplinary Tribunal a report prepared by Ms Mary Devereux who had been authorised by the society to carry out an inspection of Mr O'Duffy's practise.
Counsel said it was the society's practise to investigate solicitors' accounts every five years. Mr O'Duffy had been investigated in the normal way in March 2001 by Ms Devereux. Her report identified some "minor" accounting issues which he was required to explain and act on.
The report also raised issues relating to the requirement to give a client advance details of proposed charges.
Mr Gilhooly said many solicitors used a "standard" letter when informing clients about legal costs. This was because of difficulties in certain cases, including personal injury cases, regarding the length of a case and other matters.
In May 2001, Mr O'Duffy received a letter from the Law Society regarding the inspection and took steps to deal with matters raised. He began reviewing personal injury files and gave instructions the standard letter regarding costs was to be sent to clients. It was Mr O'Duffy's case those letters were sent.
On October 9th, 2002, Mr O'Duffy found Ms Devereux in the basement of his office, rummaging through files, which she had no authority to do. She had later confronted Mr O'Duffy and put to him that letters on the files relating to fees to be charged had been "manufactured" and placed on the files to deceive her. She contended the letters in question were never sent out to clients.
In her second report, Ms Devereux suggested in terms that Mr O'Duffy was guilty of a criminal offence in putting allegedly false letters on files, Mr Gilhooly said. His side contended there was no basis for that serious allegation.