Wellington lawyer Ian Hay struck off for disgraceful and dishonourable conduct

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

A Wellington lawyer has been struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors for disgraceful and dishonourable conduct.

Ian David Hay was found guilty of one charge which included a reckless breach of Rule 5.10 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act .

The charge before the disciplinary tribunal related to circumstances surrounding a guarantee of a $200,000 loan from a client to a company he was associated with. He then failed to repay her the money.

The tribunal found that Hay used that money largely to pay off his debts, rather than putting them into the Queenstown development as planned.

Hay's lawyer submitted to the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal that a censure and imposing restrictions on his practice would be a more appropriate penalty.

The tribunal disagreed.

In a statement, New Zealand Law Society President Kathryn Beck said the 'terms such as 'outrageous', 'disgraceful', 'dishonourable' and 'blatant obfuscation' leave no doubt as to the impact of his actions on his client and also on the reputation of the legal profession'.

Hay had three previous disciplinary findings against him and was also declared bankrupt in 2014, the statement said.

'The consequences of his actions to the complainant have been extremely grave,' Beck said.

'She obtained a judgment against Mr Hay for $227,293.15. However, none of this money was repaid to her because Mr Hay was bankrupted.'

The tribunal said Hay was now out of bankruptcy and described his circumstances as modest.

Hay had been a lawyer for 32 years.. He was struck off the roll on Tuesday. He has been ordered to pay $25,000 to the complainant, the maximum amount of compensation able to be awarded.