An Auckland lawyer who misappropriated $256,720 from his clients, has been struck from the roll of barristers and solicitors.
Richard Holland admitted to six charges of misconduct before the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal, which banned him from practising law.
In one case, Mr Holland received about $200,000 from a client and failed to account for more than $160,000 of it.
Mr Holland misappropriated the funds while working on property sales.
The New Zealand Law Society President, Chris Moore, says lawyers acting in property matters need to be careful as the cases involve large sums of money.
He then encouraged the client to sign a sham agreement, which claimed the money was loaned to him.
In another case, Mr Holland received more than 250-thousand-dollars into his trust account, and failed to account for about 87-thousand-dollars of it.
The National Prosecutions Manager from the New Zealand Law Society, Mark Treleaven, says the tribunal has ordered compensation for some of the cases.
