Law Society to outline circumstances of its dealings with fugitive solicitor

GARDAÍ HAVE been unable to locate fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn in order to arrest him, the High Court is likely to hear today.

Mr Lynn had unexpectedly agreed to give evidence in the case involving a Galway developer Brian Cunningham.

Mr Cunningham is suing First Active over the bank's appointment of a receiver to his building group in 2003 on the back of loans totalling about €30 million. Mr Lynn was Mr Cunningham's solicitor at the time. He indicated in an unsigned affidavit in March that he would be willing to give evidence on behalf of his former client.

However, he also said he would only be prepared to give evidence by videolink.

Mr Lynn fled abroad last year and a warrant was issued for his arrest last December.

Mr Cunningham's application to allow for video evidence from Mr Lynn will be heard before Mr Justice Frank Clarke today.

First Active is expected to oppose the application and has called on the Law Society to outline the extent of its investigation into Mr Lynn's business dealings. The Law Society fined Mr Lynn €2 million and had him struck off the Solicitor's Roll following an investigation which revealed multiple potential fraud dealings.

There are 130 sets of legal proceedings against Mr Lynn from banks and other financial institutions, and from many of his clients.

The Law Society is expected to outline the circumstance surrounding its dealings with Mr Lynn in an affidavit sworn by its registrar of solicitors and director of regulation, John Elliott, on Friday.

Mr Elliott is likely to tell the court that although Mr Lynn promised to co-operate with the society's dealings, he has apparently fled abroad and has had no communication with it.

He is also likely to say that Mr Lynn has had no legal representation since his solicitors asked to come off record when their client failed to turn up in court in December.

The affidavit could also reveal that, as of last Friday, gardaí have been unable to locate Mr Lynn so as to arrest him.

The admission is potentially significant, as to date, gardaí have only confirmed that they are investigating Mr Lynn's affairs and have not indicated whether they know where he is.

The last confirmed sighting of Mr Lynn was by his wife Bríd Murphy, who told the High Court last month that she had met him in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and that he was planning to fly to Portugal.

The Law Society is still investigating Mr Lynn's dealings and the full extent of the exposure to the society's compensation fund will not be known until the investigation is complete, the court may be told.

It is also expected to hear that Mr Lynn's insurers have all sought to repudiate his policies of professional indemnity insurance.