Solicitor Thomas Byrne of Dublin, Ireland; ethical ogre

The Law Society provided Kiran P. O’Duffy with a solicitor’s license in 1978 after he graduated from Queen’s University School of Law.

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

• Allowed a deficit of €1,696,969 on his client account
• Breach of regulation of the Solicitors’ Accounts Regulations 2001, when he allowed debit balances to arise in the amount of €1,696,969.
• Failed to maintain proper books of client account
• Not all account cheques were returned by the bank as identified by Tommy’s reporting report
• Failed to ensure that receipts into and payments from the client bank account were supported by third party documentation
• Failed to transfer fees to which he was entitled to the office bank account within three months from the client account in breach of the regulations
• Failed to ensure that all inter-client transfers were supported by documentation on the file
• Allowed personal transactions to be drawn from the client bank account, where no cleared funds were held on his behalf

As a direct consequence of his misconduct, the enablers for Solicitor Misfits sitting on the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal punished Tommy by gifting him with a complimentary censure and fined in the amount of €15,000.

As we speak (ca. July 2020), Tommy practices with Thomas Byrne & Co, Solicitors, at 78 Walkinstown Road in Dublin, Ireland.