Auckland lawyer suspended, ordered to pay nearly $36,000 after tenth breach over career

Boon Gunn Hong is appealing the decision and penalty against him, the tenth of his career. Photo / 123RF

An Auckland lawyer is appealing after he was suspended and slammed with nearly $36,000 in costs after the tenth conduct breach of his career.

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal ordered solicitor Boon Gunn Hong to pay the Auckland Standards Committee $35,850 in costs after he was previously found guilty of wilful misconduct.

During the December 23 hearing the tribunal also suspended Hong for three months, and ordered him to pay another $6625 in costs to the Law Society.

In a prior hearing, the tribunal found Hong was to have wilfully contravened trust accounting regulations by being "generally obstructive" and preventing an inspector from completing his review.

Lawyer trust accounts can be used to handle client money and valuable property, and are reviewed by the Law Society's Inspectorate, which focuses on procedures and controls.

Hong had repeatedly refused requests for access to his records, refused the inspector to visit his offices, and persistently refused access to client files.

These refusals were found to have "compromised and frustrated" the review, the tribunal found.

Hong said it was his right to refuse, which the tribunal found "precarious in the first instance as he admitted that he had no particular experience in the field and had not previously researched the points".

Hong even refused to accept the advice of his own expert on the matter.

The Auckland Standards Committee sought costs, a three month suspension, and that Hong be prohibited from resuming practice until approval by the tribunal.

Committee counsel Paul Collins said such penalties were justified due to the seriousness of the misconduct, the risk of it recurring, and Hong's past disciplinary record.

Since 1997 Hong had nine other findings against him regarding misconduct.

This included one of misconduct and one of conduct unbecoming under the Law Practitioners Act, six findings of "unsatisfactory conduct" by the Standards Committees or the Legal Complaints Review Officer, and a finding of misconduct confirmed by the High Court.

The penalties imposed on Hong have included three censures and two fines of $7500.

Having occurred over the span of Hong's career showed an "enduring tendency" to breach professional standards, a disregard for the rules, and suggested a decline in his capacity to maintain professional standards, Collins submitted.

Hong displayed "no evident remorse and insight", and rather refused to accept that he had done anything wrong, even saying he would do the same again in a future trust account inspection, Collins submitted.

"He has no credit available for insight and is a peril to his clients and the public with a high possibility of recurrence.

"His disciplinary record indicates that he has not learned from past mistakes."

Hong held to his view that he had a right to refuse to give up the files, and submitted that he should not be exposed to any penalties or costs and that a censure was the only appropriate penalty.

Tribunal chair Judge Bernard Kendall disagreed, and ordered Hong be suspended from practice three months, with another order prohibiting him from practising on his own account until approved by the Tribunal.

He was also ordered to pay the committee its costs of $35,850, and the refund the New Zealand Law Society its costs of $6225.

His suspension would not come into effect until March 1, 2020, to allow Hong to pursue his appeal to the High Court.