Gail Enright
Allegation / charges
In the matter of Gail Enright, a solicitor formerly practising in Michael Enright & Co, Solicitors, 28 South Mall, Cork, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2015 [2018/DT85 and High Court record 2022/198SA] Law Society of Ireland (applicant) Gail Enright (respondent solicitor) On 8 June 2022, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the respondent solicitor guilty of misconduct, in that she: 1) Dishonestly caused or improperly allowed deficits on the client account by transfers of client moneys to the office account, including: a) An improper transfer of €6,949 from the client account to the office account on 1 May 2015 as fees and VAT for a named account, when there were no funds received into the client account in respect of this transaction, b) An improper transfer on 25 May 2015 of the amount of €4,205 as fees and VAT, when there were no funds in the client account in respect of this transaction, c) An improper transfer on 4 April 2016 of €18,450 from the client account to the office account as fees and VAT for a named account, when there were no funds in the client account in respect of this transaction, d) An improper transfer on 3 October 2016 in the amount of €19,272 from the client account to the office account as fees and VAT for a named account, when there were no funds received into the client account in respect of this transaction, and e) Improper transfers between October 2015 and August 2016 totalling €35,545 from a contract deposit received from a named party, and 2) Attempted to conceal or permitted the attempt to conceal any and/or all of the deficits at allegation (1) above by rectifying deficits in or around account reporting date(s), 3) Dishonestly caused and/or improperly allowed transfers from the estate of a named party, giving rise to a deficit of client funds, to include: a) Transfer on 1/5/2015 of €12,300, and/or b) Transfer on 2/6/2015 of €9,225, and/or c) Transfer on 12/6/2015 of €6,150, and/or d) Transfer on 2/11/2015 of €6,765, and/or e) Transfer on 4/11/2015 of €10,455, and/or f) Transfer on 9/11/2015 of €6,150, and/or g) Transfer on 16/11/2015 of €5,535, and/or h) Transfer on 16/12/2016 of €6,765, and/or i) Transfer on 23/5/2016 of €18,450, Total: €81,795. 4) Attempted to conceal deficits on a named estate by creating or causing to be created false copies of a letter of 9 December 2013 addressed to the beneficiaries containing a fee estimate of €85,000, plus VAT, for the named estate, 5) Dishonestly caused and/or improperly allowed the taking of fees from a contract deposit of €44,426 received on 1 October 2015 in respect of the purchase of a commercial property by a named client: a) 1/10/2015 €4,059, and/or b) 14/10/2015 €1,968, and/or c) 14/10/2015 €2,429, and/or d) 14/10/2015 €799, and/or e) 11/12/2015 €9,840, and/or f) 14/12/2015 €1,180, and/or g) 21/12/2015 €2,460, and/or h) 16/5/2016 €6,765, and/or i) 2/6/2016 €6,150, Total: €35,650. 6) Dishonestly caused and/or improperly allowed transfers from a named estate, giving rise to a deficit of client funds of in or around €30,000, 7) Caused or permitted serious breaches of the Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2014 : a) Breach of regulation 7, whereby funds were transferred from the client account to the office account as professional fees, which were not properly available to be applied in satisfaction of professional fees, b) Breach of regulation 7, in that debit balances were allowed to arise on individual client ledgers, c) Breach of regulation 8, in that withdrawals were effected from the client account to the office account, not in accordance with regulation 7, d) Breach of regulation 11, by reason of failure to furnish bills of costs in respect of the funds transferred from the client account to the office account, e) Breach of regulation 11, arising from the withdrawal of money from the client account as provided for in regulation 8(2) in respect of professional fees or outlays not properly payable to the solicitors at the time of such withdrawal, f) Breach of regulation 12, in that the solicitor failed to maintain books of account that showed the true financial position in relation to the solicitor’s transactions with clients’ moneys. The matter came before the High Court and, on 21 November 2022, the High Court ordered that: 1) The name of the respondent solicitor be struck from the Roll of Solicitors, 2) The respondent solicitor pay a contribution in the sum of €5,000 to the applicant towards its costs and outlay for the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal proceedings, by way of four yearly instalments of €1,250, 3) The respondent solicitor pay the applicant its measured costs and outlay of the within application in the sum of €6,000, by way of four yearly instalments of €1,500.
Documents
No documents recorded.
Source: https://www.lawsociety.ie/Public/disciplinarysearch/