The would-be lawyer is not named in High Court Justice Laura O’Gorman’s judgment. She refers to him only as “Mr Gold”, which is not his real name.
“[Mr Gold] suffers from a defect in character reflected in disproportionate and misguided aggravation against persons he perceives to have wrongly challenged him, coupled with the tendency to blame others,” Justice O’Gorman said.
“These defects in character, including a misguided tendency to make personalised attacks and retaliate by inappropriate use of legal processes, in my assessment make Mr Gold unsuited to the practice of law.”
It is relatively uncommon for qualified would-be lawyers to be denied access to the profession — about one in 1000 have been turned away in recent years.
In 2014, 1231 were admitted to the roll of barristers and solicitors, and just 15 were denied.
There are currently about 17,000 practising lawyers in New Zealand.
Gold has completed the necessary academic and professional qualifications to be admitted, but the Law Society refused to grant him the required certificate of character.
Its grounds included a Family Court case in which the judge made findings of physical and psychological abuse of his wife, over an extended period.
Gold has said he was falsely accused of abusing his wife, although he completed a stopping violence programme required by the court.
The Law Society said there were other aspects of his character indicating he was unfit, and his character references were “insubstantial”.
The High Court was told Gold made official complaints about three lawyers who had been involved in his Family Court case, including his own.
He later appealed the Family Court decision and made a complaint against a High Court judge who dismissed the appeal to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner.
He made complaints about all the members of the Law Society’s Practice Approval Committee.
He then made a complaint about the Law Society to the Human Rights Commission, alleging gender discrimination.
He is no longer pursuing that complaint, but continues to blame the Law Society for his “hardship and duress”.
Gold told Justice O’Gorman his various complaints against lawyers and others were for the “proper purposes of pursuing justice” under rights protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
But Justice O’Gorman said she was not satisfied Gold was a fit and proper person to be admitted to the roll of barristers and solicitors.
She said his tendency to blame others and take action against those who had challenged him might also explain the patterns of behaviour that led to the finding that he abused his wife.
She added: “In this case, the character defects go well beyond the findings of the Family Court.”
“If these characteristics were entirely historic in nature, then they would no longer be relevant to the present application.
“However, I am satisfied on the evidence that Mr Gold’s character defects continue to manifest, for example in his conduct in this proceeding and in his ongoing pursuit of personalised complaints in the Family Court processes.”
Justice O’Gorman acknowledged Gold had credit-worthy characteristics as well, including being trustworthy around his referee’s children, and caring for a dying relative.
He had also volunteered as a legal assistant at a community group, without any issues.
But she said these factors to his credit did not overcome the concerns she had about his fitness.
“Mr Gold falls short of the high standard that is required by a clear margin,” she said.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.
