James J Maher
Allegation / charges
In the matter of James J Maher, solicitor, practising as James Maher & Co, Solicitors, 1 The Bookend, Essex Quay, Dublin 8, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2008 [6676/DT82/12 and High Court record 2015/4SA] Law Society of Ireland (applicant) James J Maher (respondent solicitor) On 2 October 2014, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the respondent solicitor guilty of misconduct in his practice as a solicitor in that he: 1) Misappropriated circa €242,219.99 of client moneys by paying these moneys to a third party, 2) Failed to disclose the said misappropriations until the Society initiated an inspection of his practice, 3) Caused or permitted significant non-offsettable debit balances to arise on client ledger accounts, in breach of regulation 7(2)(a) of the Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2001 . The tribunal ordered that the matter go forward to the High Court and, on 16 March 2015, the President of the High Court ordered: 1) That the respondent remain suspended from practice until such time as he secures a superior who will employ him and who is approved by the Society, 2) Thereafter, the respondent not be permitted to practise as a sole practitioner or in partnership; that he be permitted only to practise as an assistant solicitor in the employment and under the direct control and supervision of another solicitor of at least ten years’ standing, to be approved in advance by the Society, 3) That the respondent solicitor be prohibited from signing any cheques or authorising any bank payment, either solely or jointly over any client account, 4) That a copy of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal report be furnished to any prospective legal practitioner wishing to employ the respondent solicitor, 5) That the respondent solicitor pay the sum of €5,000 as a contribution towards the whole of the costs of the Society, to be paid from any surplus that should arise after all client moneys have been returned, 6) The court makes no order as to costs of the High Court application.
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found James J Maher guilty of misconduct for misappropriating circa €242,219.99 of client moneys, failing to disclose it until inspection, and permitting significant non-offsettable debit balances on client ledger accounts. The High Court ordered continued suspension until he secures an approved superior, restrictions barring sole or partnership practice, a prohibition on signing cheques or authorising payments on client accounts, and payment of €5,000 towards the Society's costs from any surplus after client moneys returned. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded.
Duties found breached:
- No conflict between current clients
- Handle inadvertently received material
- No improper use of client money
⚠ 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/