Wellington barrister Quentin Duff has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal disciplinary tribunal and called reckless for not disclosing he directed companies which had gone into liquidation.
Duff, son of author Alan Duff, admitted a charge of unsatisfactory conduct before the tribunal, which accepted he had not acted dishonestly.
He was also ordered to pay the New Zealand Law Society costs of $5,000 and to reimburse hearing costs of $2,011.
The issue arose after he completed an application to renew his lawyers’ practising certificate in 2014 and declared he had not been a director of company put into liquidation.
That declaration, according to the tribunal, was incorrect because Duff had been the director of three wound-up companies, including Duff Legal which was wound up on a petition from the Inland Revenue Department.
Although Duff admitted the failure to declare the liquidations amounted to a breach of professional standards, a Law Society committee determined the matter should be put before the tribunal.
The tribunal, chaired by retired judge Bernard John Kendall, said signing a declaration that the contents of a practising certificate application were true and correct when some of them were not was a serious matter.
“While it is accepted that you did not intend to act dishonestly, you were nevertheless reckless in signing the declaration. You are deserving of censure,” the tribunal said to Duff.
Although Duff sought name suppression, the tribunal declined his bid. It ordered him to pay costs of $7011.
It is the second time Duff has been censured, having been reprimanded by a tribunal in 2005 for failing to produce files relating to a cost revision.
Duff told the Herald that he was not considering an appeal because he accepted that as a lawyer he should be concerned about details and that he was wrong in his declaration to the Law Society.
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