Patrick McCarthy
Allegation / charges
In the matter of Patrick McCarthy, solicitor, formerly practising as McCarthy & Co, Second Floor, Building 1000, City Gate, Mahon, Cork, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2011 [7748/DT144/11 and High Court record no 2013/40 SA] Law Society of Ireland (applicant) Patrick McCarthy (respondent solicitor) On 5 July 2012, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the respondent solicitor guilty of misconduct in his practice as a solicitor in that he: a) Breached regulation 12(1) by failing at all times to maintain proper books of account, b) Breached regulation 12(2)(a) by failing to maintain books of account that showed the true financial position in relation to his transactions with clients’ moneys, c) Breached regulation 7(2)(a) by allowing debit balance to arise on client ledgers in circumstances other than permitted by this subsection, d) Failed to attend a meeting of the Regulation of Practice Committee on 21 May 2009, despite being required to so attend, e) Allowed an estimated overall deficit to arise on the client account of €58,771, as of 30 April 2009, f) Failed to stamp deeds on time, incurring substantial interest and penalties on late stamping of deeds in question, g) Transferred stamp duty funds to his office account from the client account, ostensibly as fees, h) Failed to discharge third-party liabilities in two matters, amounting to €32,074, i) Used €3,090 of the monies for third-party liabilities referred to above to pay legal costs drawers’ fees. The tribunal ordered that the matter go forward to the High Court, and the President of the High Court, on 8 April 2013, made the following orders: a) That the name of the respondent solicitor be struck from the Roll of Solicitors, b) That the Society do recover the costs of the proceedings before the High Court and the costs of the proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal as against the respondent solicitor, to be taxed in default of agreement.
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found Patrick McCarthy guilty of misconduct on 5 July 2012 for multiple accounting breaches, including failing to maintain proper books of account, allowing a client account deficit of €58,771, failing to stamp deeds on time, misusing stamp duty and third-party funds, and failing to attend a required committee meeting. The matter proceeded to the High Court, which on 8 April 2013 ordered the solicitor struck from the Roll of Solicitors and ordered costs against him, to be taxed in default of agreement. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded.
Duties found breached:
- No conflict between current clients
- No improper use of client money
- Prompt accounting and return of money
- Diligence and timeliness
- Pay instructed practitioners and agents
- Not misrepresent regulated status
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["extracted_from_register_summary"]
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.
Documents
No documents recorded.
Source: https://www.lawsociety.ie/Public/disciplinarysearch/