The New Zealand Law Society has suspended the practising certificate of long-standing Hawke's Bay lawyer Gerald McKay and moved to protect investors' funds pending investigations of alleged trust account irregularities at his firm in Napier.
The suspension was announced yesterday and follows earlier reports of Mr McKay having handed in his
certificate after more than 40 years in the profession.
The society had previously intervened to secure the trust account of McKay Hill, a firm which specialises in property issues, and the affairs are now being managed by another Napier lawyer, Steve Lunn, formerly a partner in Elvidge and Partners and now in his own firm, Lunn and Associates.
The society said an interim suspension order was made by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal after an application by the society's Hawke's Bay standards committee.
Committee spokesman and Napier barrister Jonathan Krebs said: "We intervened to ensure that the client money was protected.
"The society froze and secured the trust account funds at the time of intervention."
Mr Krebs said the society had been in direct contact with "all clients who have a balance in the trust fund".
"The clients were provided with a phone number and special email address for communication with the society," he said.
"We are keeping them updated on the progress of the investigation."
Mr McKay, who has practised law since graduating from Victoria University in the late 1960s, was with Dowling and Co before founding McKay Hill in 1985.
Co-founder and fellow senior partner Richard Hill, also of Napier, is not being investigated, and plans to help clients in any way he can.
