Lax lawyer keeps name secret

A lawyer who sent a final bill to a client four years after being told it was being disputed has been told to apologise. Photo / Thinkstock

The identity of a lawyer found guilty of "unsatisfactory conduct" for sending a late bill is kept secret by the disciplinary tribunal which heard his case.

The Law Society said the lawyer was found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct after sending a final account to a client over four and half years after their relationship had ended.

"The client was sent an interim bill totalling $1697.50 in September 2006 after the lawyer's firm had been engaged by her to act in an employment dispute. She did not pay the interim bill, advising the lawyer in January 2007 that the bill was under dispute and she was taking steps to engage a new lawyer.

The lawyer sent a final bill in September 2011 and the former client lodged a complaint with the New Zealand Law Society about the lapse of time," The Law Society said.

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal, who heard the lawyer's case, found the delay was excessive and that receipt of a bill after such a time would have had an "unsettling impact" on the complainant.

The tribunal ordered the lawyer write to apologise to the woman and ordered their identities should not be published.

"In making its decision on a penalty the tribunal accepted that there had been minimal harm done, that the lawyer had been in practice for a long time with an unblemished record, and that the health issues he had suffered must have contributed to the delay in issuing a final bill," the Law Society said.