Solicitor Michael Petty of Clare, Ireland; ethical troll

The Law Society provided Michael Petty with a solicitor’s license in 1978 after he graduated from Queen’s University School of Law.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Mikey guilty of engaging in the following misconduct.

• Failed to furnish any account to the beneficiaries setting out monies in the estate, monies paid out, tax paid, tax deducted or to be deducted
• Failed to act with due diligence (slacker)
• Allowed confusion to arise in relation to the exact disbursement of funds held by the respondent solicitor
• Referred to €153,247.89 held in his client account, yet after disbursing €108,000, in December 2004, Mikey still retained €100,633.49 at the date when he handed over the file to the Law Society
• Failed to take action in relation to the sale of a house in Ennistymon, which is apparently subject of a lease to a third party
• Grossly delayed, without reasonable explanation, the administration of client’s estate, the deceased person having died nine years earlier
• Showed a complete disregard for the interests of the beneficiaries, whom he knew to be elderly (Screw them, said Mikey!)
• By his conduct, deprived two of the beneficiaries, who died during his stewardship, of their enjoyment of their share in the estate
• Failed to fully cooperate with ethics investigators (Up yours, said Mikey!)

As a direct consequence of his misconduct, the enablers for Solicitor Misfits sitting on the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal punished Mikey by gifting him with a complimentary censure and fined in the amount of €6,000.

As we speak (ca. July 2020), Mikey practices with M. Petty & Company, Parliament Street, Ennistymon in Clare, Ireland.