BARRISTER PATRICK RUSSELL has been struck off the bar in Ireland after being found guilty of professional misconduct.
The decision by a group of benchers at The King’s Inns to expel Russell from the society and disbar him prohibits him from practising as a barrister.
Two complaints had been made against Russell in August but he failed to attend a hearing set up by the Bar Council’s Disciplinary Committee.
Eventually the committee said it was “satisfied” that the facts of the two cases constituted “disgraceful acts of professional misconduct”.
The committee’s verdict read:
The Disciplinary Committee concluded that this behaviour was fundamentally dishonest from beginning to end. It tends to bring the profession of barrister into disrepute. It was unethical in the extreme and was prejudicial to the administration of justice. It fell grievously short of the high standards of conduct expected of a barrister.
The committee itself could not disbar the lawyer but passed on its recommendations to the benchers. The senior members of The King’s Inns then considered the findings and decided on Russell’s disbarment on Wednesday.
Misconduct
The lawyer was found to have “acted unprofessionally” during what he purported was a Supreme Court appeal. He received funds from the client but the committee found he had falsely informed the complainant that a named solicitor was acting as an intermediary. The complainant paid for the services of this fictional solicitor and for the appeal itself – which was never actually lodged.
He also lied to the complainant about the appeal procedure and even told him/her that a settlement was available when it was not.
Russell also failed to pay a Bar Council fine of €25,000 imposed on him following a separate investigation in 2008.
The Irish Times and Irish Independent today reported that Russell was named in court in November as the lawyer who handled the troubled tax affairs of musical act Foster & Allen. The duo have claimed they were victims of fraud by the ex-lawyer.
No barrister has been disbarred in the past ten years.
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