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Disgraced Auckland lawyer Christopher Harder is practising law in Tonga, a move which has infuriated the legal profession in both Tonga and New Zealand.
Harder was struck off last year after years of controversy when he admitted professional misconduct, including an incident when he took a client to
a brothel and made him simulate the sexual violence he had been charged with committing.
Harder was due to appear in Tonga next month for people charged over last year's riots there.
He received his practising certificate from Tonga in a move that New Zealand lawyers said made the small Pacific nation an international laughing stock.
The Auckland District Law Society said today it was concerned Tongan legal authorities had not asked New Zealand for a certificate of standing -- essentially an endorsement of a lawyer's good standing.
Auckland Law Society president Andrew Gilchrist, who is also a board member of the New Zealand Law Society, said today it was unusual for Tonga not to ask for the certificate.
New Zealand would insist on a certificate for any lawyer arriving in the country and would expect to provide one for any lawyer leaving New Zealand to practise overseas, he said.
'We were not asked for a certificate of standing so he was able to be admitted in Tonga without such a certificate.'
Mr Gilchrist also said Harder had publicly referred to the matters which led to his striking off as "minor indiscretions."
He said it was very unlikely any lawyer would be struck off for minor indiscretions.
He said he was surprised and concerned Tongan authorities had let Harder practise when he was not allowed to practise in New Zealand, but that was their decision.
He said Tongan authorities were given a copy of the New Zealand Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal's decision to strike Harder off, but that was after he was admitted to the Tongan bar.
One New Zealand lawyer said the Tongan file relating to Harder's application in Tonga to be allowed to practise had disappeared.
The lawyer, who did not want to be named, said the application referring to "minor indiscretions" had lawyers "fuming"
He said the offending in New Zealand was "very serious offending" and local lawyers were 'beside themselves with fury' that he had been allowed back into the legal profession in Tonga.
Harder was not available for comment today.
- NZPA
