Daniel J Coleman
Allegation / charges
In the matter of Daniel J Coleman, solicitor, formerly practising as Coleman & Co, Solicitors, Main Street, Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2008 [8347/DT20/09 and High Court record no 2010/65SA] Law Society of Ireland (applicant) Daniel J Coleman (respondent solicitor) On 10 February 2010, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the respondent solicitor guilty of misconduct in his practice as a solicitor in that he: a) Caused or allowed the name of another named solicitor to be written on contracts for sale dated 19 May 2004 without the authority of that solicitor, b) Caused or allowed a fictitious contract, dated 19 May 2004, to come into existence and purportedly made between the complainant’s clients and that other solicitor in trust for the purpose of misleading ACC Bank into advancing monies to a named client, knowing that the sale of the land from that named client had not closed and that the dwelling units had not been constructed, c) Destroyed a file consisting of merely three contracts relating to the contested contract, dated 19 May 2004, without the express or implied instructions of both parties and, in particular, the complainant’s named clients, d) Acted for both the vendor/builder, a named client, and purchasers of 13 newly constructed houses at Galway Road, Tuam, Co Galway, involving himself in a possible conflict of interest contrary to the provisions of article 4(a) of the Solicitors (Professional Practice, Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1997 , SI no 85 of 1997. The tribunal directed that: i) The respondent solicitor is not a fit person to be a member of the solicitor’s profession, ii) The name of the respondent solicitor be struck off the Roll of Solicitors, iii) The respondent solicitor pay the whole of the costs of the Law Society of Ireland (to include the Law Society’s costs of the adjourned hearing of 26 November 2009), to be taxed by a taxing master of the High Court in default of agreement. On 26 July 2010, the President of the High Court ordered that: 1) The name of the solicitor be struck from the Roll of Solicitors, 2) The respondent pay the applicant the costs of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, to include witness expenses, same to be taxed in default of agreement, 3) The respondent do pay to the applicant the costs of the High Court proceedings, same to be taxed in default of agreement. Subsequent to the making of that order, the respondent solicitor has lodged an appeal against the decision of the President of the High Court under Supreme Court appeal number 319/2010.
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Daniel J Coleman guilty of misconduct for creating a fictitious contract to mislead ACC Bank, using another solicitor's name without authority, destroying a file without instructions, and acting in a conflict of interest for both vendor and purchasers. The Tribunal found him not fit to be a solicitor and directed his name be struck off the Roll and that he pay the Law Society's costs (to be taxed in default of agreement). The President of the High Court on 26 July 2010 ordered his name struck off and payment of Tribunal and High Court costs. The solicitor lodged a Supreme Court appeal (319/2010).
Duties found breached:
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["extracted_from_register_summary"]
Duties engaged
Documents
No documents recorded.
Source: https://www.lawsociety.ie/Public/disciplinarysearch/