Statement from the Law Society of Ireland re a former solicitor sentenced to 12 years in prison for forgery today: Law Society of Ireland eBulletin 02 December 2013 Dear Colleague, Thomas Byrne was sentenced today to twelve years in prison. That sentence is welcomed by me and by the Law Society of Ireland. Naturally, it was inappropriate to comment in the media in advance of this sentencing for legal reasons. Thomas Byrne was a devious man and his actions - fraud, theft, forgery - are anathema to me and to every solicitor I know. As you, the members, and I would expect, the Law Society acted extremely quickly to remove Thomas Byrne from practice. In fact, he was shut down faster than any solicitor in our history. It took two working days from a whistleblower complaint of forgery being made to us at Blackhall Place on Thursday, 18 October 2007 to the Law Society completing initial investigations and changing the locks on the doors of Byrne’s practice on Monday, 22 October 2007. The next day (23 October 2007) the Law Society applied to the President of the High Court to place every possible restriction on Byrne’s activities, including freezing all bank accounts operated by him or his firm. The President granted the freezing order based on oral evidence given by a Law Society investigating accountant. The granting of a freezing order on the basis of oral evidence alone is extremely rare and allowed this very serious case to be dealt with as quickly as possible. The Law Society then immediately took possession of Byrne’s 3,500 client files and stored them safely and confidentially. All of Byrne’s current clients were contacted by the Law Society to inform them their files were being held and urged them to nominate new solicitors to finish any outstanding work. Including costs to the Compensation Fund (€7.2 million) and costs of necessary external legal and accountancy services (€1.1 million), Thomas Byrne has cost the profession €8.3 million. However, it’s not just monetary damage that rogue solicitors, like Byrne and Michael Lynn, inflict. Regrettably, there has also been significant damage to the reputation of the legal profession. We have worked hard implementing regulations to prevent another case like Thomas Byrne from happening again. Since Thomas Byrne committed his crimes, the Law Society has introduced new regulations to (1) restrict solicitors giving undertakings to financial institutions in relation to their own transactions (SI 211 of 2009) and (2) ban solicitors giving undertakings to financial institutions in commercial property transactions (SI 366 of 2010). The Law Society is also working to tell the story in the public arena that Thomas Byrne is an abomination to the legal profession and to the Law Society. Solicitors are agents for justice in our society and when an individual like Thomas Byrne commits such despicable crimes, it is a direct attack on our values and our life’s work. Over the coming days you will see, hear and read in the media about how the Law Society removed Byrne from practice and protected the interests of his clients. With our increased focus on representation, it is more important than ever that we actively defend, and build, the reputation of our profession. With kind regards. Yours sincerely, John P Shaw President
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:54:51 +0000
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