Ex-FG hopeful struck off as solicitor
TWO solicitors – including one who ran as a Fine Gael local election candidate – have been struck off the roll of solicitors over findings of professional misconduct arising from the operation of a “chaotic” practice.
The High Court orders were made against Keith Flynn and Lyndsey Clarke, who practised as Keith Flynn & Company in Dublin until the practice closed in 2016.
Mr Flynn was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 2006 while Ms Clarke was admitted in December 2012. She was a candidate in Cork during the 2014 local election campaign, but failed to be elected.
High Court President Mr Justice Peter Kelly said, despite the “sadness” of making such orders against solicitors at an early stage in their careers, he endorsed the Law Society’s view they were necessary to ensure the integrity of the solicitors’ profession.
He ordered their names be struck off the roll and they should pay costs of €8,288 to the society.
Noting Mr Flynn has an ill wife and dependant children and Ms Clarke has a depend- ant child, he placed a 12-month stay on the costs order.
Both solicitors were suspended in late 2016 but the Law Society sought strike-off orders this week arising from findings of professional misconduct by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
The tribunal found, among other matters, that the respondents improperly and/ or dishonestly caused or allowed a minimum deficit of about €40,302 on the client account as of November 2016.
The society told the tribunal that the practice was “chaotic”.
Due to the solicitors’ behaviour, there had been claims on the society’s compensation fund which resulted in payouts of €231,999 of which some €133,000 had been recovered, leaving a shortfall of almost €99,000.