About the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal

The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal considers complaints of misconduct against solicitors and barristers.

Misconduct by a legal practitioner is defined broadly in:

• Section 50 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015
• the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2015
• the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Regulations

Examples of misconduct may include breach of undertaking, conflict of interest, misleading a client, failure to reply to communications from a client, delay in bringing a case to court and dishonesty.

The legal practitioner should be present at the inquiry. However, if the legal practitioner or his/her legal representative(s) fail to attend, the Tribunal may proceed with the inquiry on proof that the legal practitioner (or his/her solicitor) was served with the appropriate notice. The legal practitioner may be legally represented or may represent himself/herself, as he/she wishes.

The Tribunal has the same rights and powers as the High Court in regard to the enforcement of the attendance of witnesses and the production and the discovery of documents. Witnesses may be subpoenaed to attend and give evidence on oath or affirmation and be subject to cross-examination.

The Tribunal has power to order an applicant or a legal practitioner to pay a sum or sums not exceeding a total of €1,000 to a witness where the subpoenaed attendance of that witness is found by the Tribunal to have been unnecessary and thereby involved the witness in unnecessary expense.

Any such order by the Tribunal may be appealed by the Law Society, the Authority or the legal practitioner to the High Court within 21 days of the receipt of notification in writing of the order.

At the end of the inquiry, the Tribunal will consider each complaint of misconduct against the legal practitioner and make a separate finding in respect of each complaint. While it may find some of the complaints proven and others not, the Tribunal must in the case of each complaint give a reason(s) for its finding.

Where the Tribunal finds that there has been no misconduct on the part of the legal practitioner, the applicant and the legal practitioner and the Authority will be informed of its finding(s) and the reason(s) therefor.

Where the Tribunal finds that there has been misconduct on the part of the legal practitioner in respect of a complaint or complaints it will then hear submissions by or on behalf of the applicant and by or on behalf of the legal practitioner as to the appropriate sanction and as to costs. The Tribunal may by order impose a range of sanctions on the legal practitioner, including:

• an advice
• an admonishment
• a censure
• a direction that the legal practitioner participate in one or more modules of a professional competence scheme and furnish, within a specified period, evidence to the Tribunal of such participation
• a direction that the legal practitioner concerned-

- waive all or part of any costs otherwise payable by the complainant to the legal practitioner concerned in respect of the matter the subject of the complaint

- refund all or any part of the any costs paid to the legal practitioner concerned in respect of the matter the subject of the complaint

• a direction that the legal practitioner arrange for the completion of the legal service to which the inquiry relates or the rectification, at his or her own expense, of any error, omission or other deficiency in connection with the provision of the legal service the subject of the inquiry