Barrister Richard Palmer of New Zealand; perverted loser

The Law Society of New Zealand presented Richard Dean Palmer with a law license in 1981 after he graduated from the University of Auckland Law School. 

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal found Dick guilty of the following misconduct.

Dick’s conduct towards young female colleagues on three separate occasions was is set forth below.

The first incident involved Dick taking two female summer clerks to lunch while working at the law firm Anderson Lloyd

• Dick brought two bottles of wine, which the group drunk over an extended lunch
• Once the lunch was finished, the group went to a bar where Dick purchased spirits for him and the clerks
• Enroute to a third location, Dick saw a sex shop which he had read about and entered, with the two clerks following
• Inside, Dick chatted to the shop assistant for at least five minutes and gave a business card to each clerk
• Dick engaged in a highly inappropriate visit to the sex shop

The second incident occurred when Dick was working at law firm Duncan Cotterill and hosted a client lunch along with an intermediate solicitor

• A large amount of alcohol was consumed at lunch
• While seated at the table, Dick lent in towards the solicitor in a way that made her feel uncomfortable and patted her on the knee several times and stroked her hair and shoulder
• When the solicitor attempted to move seats to get away, Dick moved to sit beside her
• The Tribunal described the touching as overly familiar, unconsented and unwelcome and found touching a junior female colleague in this manner went beyond unacceptable conduct and reached the standard of disgraceful and dishonorable

The third incident also occurred while Dick was at Duncan Cotterill.

• Involved a lengthy series of emails between Dick and a first-year solicitor
• Dick made numerous requests to have coffee with the solicitor and then asked her to have dinner with him (including over the weekend when he would be “batching”
• Dick continued sending emails to the first-year solicitor after two partners of the firm raising concerns about his behavior with him, including his treatment of young female colleagues
• Dick sent the first year solicitor an email stating, “I promise not to bite Well not hard”

As a direct consequence of his misconduct, the patron saints for Attorney Misfits sitting on the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal punished Dick by gifting him with a complimentary censure and ordered to pay investigative costs of $8,128.0.

As we speak (ca. February 2023), Dick practices his so-called brand of law with Saunders& Company at 131 Victoria Street, Christchurch Central, Christchurch, New Zealand.