A CO Kerry solicitor has been struck off by the High Court after it heard the Law Society paid €116,000 in compensation because he misappropriated clients’ money.
Michael Gleasure, formerly practising as Michael Gleasure and Co Solicitors, Main Street, Tralee, Kerry, was found guilty of professional misconduct by a Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal following an inquiry that ended on October 8th last.
The total loss of clients’ funds was more than €200,000, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, heard. He confirmed the tribunal’s recommendation to strike him off the roll of solicitors.
There was no appearance by Mr Gleasure who, the court heard, has not practised since September 2006 when a freezing order was placed on his accounts.
Neasa Bird, for the society, said a solicitor who had represented Mr Gleasure had written to say she would be unable to attend yesterday and the society had written back saying it would be proceeding with the application to strike him off.
As a result of Mr Gleasure misappropriating funds from his client account to his firm’s office account, the Law Society had to pay €116,112 from its compensation fund, counsel said.
When Mr Justice Kearns remarked the amount of money involved was significantly more than that sum, Ms Bird said that while this was the amount of money paid to date from the fund, a report from the tribunal indicated it was more than €200,000.
In an affidavit, Law Society solicitor David Irwin said the tribunal had found Mr Gleasure guilty of 15 allegations of misconduct, including the misappropriation of client funds to the office account in circumstances where there was no evidence of work done to justify the transfer of those funds in respect of fees.
The sums involved ranged from about €3,000 to €50,000 and included misappropriation of money due for payment of stamp duty and land registry fees, Mr Irwin said. The sums also included the improper transfer of deposits received in conveyancing matters from the client to the office account.
In the case involving the largest amount of money, €50,820 was taken from a woman’s client deposit account and misappropriated, Mr Irwin said. Mr Gleasure had also breached regulations governing solicitors’ accounts by failing to furnish bills of costs.
Mr Justice Kearns was given medical reports on Mr Gleasure which, the judge was told, had been taken into account by the tribunal in coming to its recommendation he be struck off. The judge said it was a “very serious case” and he made the orders striking off Mr Gleasure and requiring him to pay the Law Society’s costs.