Judge gives accused lawyer a big hurry-up
Under-fire barrister Barry Hart has been criticised by the Chief High Court Justice for ‘‘inexcusable delays’’ in getting his lawyer-misconduct hearing to tribunal.
Mr Hart, a prominent Auckland defence lawyer, faces three counts of misconduct laid by the New Zealand Law Society.
His hearing before the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal was set for Monday, but Justice Helen Winkelmann yesterday adjourned the proceedings.
The adjournment was ordered after Mr Hart’s lawyer John Katz, QC, argued it was inappropriate for district court Judge David Smith to appear as an expert witness for the prosecution.
Before becoming a judge, Judge Smith assessed Mr Hart’s accounts for the Standards Committee of the New Zealand Law Society, leading to an allegation of misconduct by ‘‘grossly excessive’’ over-charging.
Mr Hart’s first lawyer, Greg King, withdrew from the case at the thought of cross-examining a judge he had to regularly appear before.
Justice Winkelmann agreed crossexamining a judge had a ‘‘potential chilling effect on counsel’’ and an agreement was reached that Judge Smith would not be called. The new date for the hearing will be months away as a new assessor will have to go over Mr Hart’s accounts.
Although Mr Hart won the adjournment, Justice Winkelmann criticised the ‘‘significant and inexcusable delays on the part of Mr Hart’’. The charges were first laid in May 2010 and three adjournments had been granted, two at the request of Mr Hart, she said.
When Mr Katz indicated he would not have been available for the Monday hearing anyway, Justice Winkelmann said she was ‘‘not terribly moved’’.
‘‘Mr Hart would have known the date of the hearing when he retained you.’’
When Mr Katz said he had not been able to meet his client for two days, the judge said: ‘‘I think Mr Hart should start paying some pretty sharp attention to this, Mr Katz.’’