Decision record
David Walsh
Allegation / charges
In the matter of David Walsh, solicitor, formerly practising as David Walsh & Co, Solicitors, at 12 Mount Street, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, and in the matter of the Solicitors Acts 1954-2011 [4550/DT04/12and 2014 no 38 SA] Law Society of Ireland (applicant) David Walsh (respondent solicitor) On 12 September 2013, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the respondent solicitor guilty of misconduct in his practice as a solicitor in that he: 1) Failed to honour an agreement expeditiously, within a reasonable time, or at all to pay a proportion of professional fees recovered in respect of a personal injury action for a named client, 2) By omission, misrepresented or allowed to be misrepresented the position in relation to the recovery of the costs for a named client from the defendant’s insurers, 3) Failed to reply adequately or at all to the complainant’s correspondence and, in particular, letters dated 21 February 2009, 30 October 2009, 19 January 2010, 28 January 2010, 4 February 2010, 17 February 2010, 26 February 2010, 3 March 2010 and 30 March 2010, 4) Failed to honour an agreement expeditiously, within a reasonable time, or at all to pay an agreed portion of the professional fees recovered in respect of a personal injury action for a named client, 5) By omission, misrepresented or allowed to be misrepresented the position in relation to the recovery of costs for a named client from the Defendant’s insurers. The tribunal ordered that the matter go forward to the High Court and, on 27 May 2014, the President of the High Court made the following orders: 1) That the name of the respondent solicitor shall be struck from the Roll of Solicitors, 2) That the respondent solicitor pay the sum of €25,208 inclusive of VAT as restitution to the Complainant, 3) That the respondent do pay the Society the costs of the proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal only, to include witness expenses to be taxed in default of agreement.
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on 12 September 2013 found David Walsh guilty of misconduct for failing to pay clients agreed portions of recovered fees, misrepresenting by omission the recovery of costs from insurers, and failing to respond to correspondence. The matter was referred to the High Court, which on 27 May 2014 struck his name from the Roll of Solicitors, ordered €25,208 restitution to the complainant, and ordered payment of the Society's Tribunal costs. No express finding of dishonesty was recorded.
Duties found breached:
- Not mislead the court
- Complaints procedure and handling
- Advise on alternatives, settlement and outcome
- No conflict between current clients
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["extracted_from_register_summary"]
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
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Documents
No documents recorded.
Source: https://www.lawsociety.ie/Public/disciplinarysearch?viewAll=True