An Auckland lawyer who took jurors to a party after they acquitted his client will not face disciplinary action.
An Auckland District Law Society investigation found lawyer John Kovacevich should not face disciplinary action for taking the jurors to a pub and then home to meet his client whom they had just acquitted of drugs charges.
Society executive director Margaret Wong said the complaints committee had decided not to pursue the matter based on the available evidence and an explanation from Mr Kovacevich.
It found there was no evidence of contact between Mr Kovacevich and the jurors during the trial.
However, there was "certainly" contact after the trial - at the pub and then at his home.
Mr Kovacevich had said he recognised the contact was "most unwise", she said.
The committee also found there was no specific rule in the New Zealand Law Society code of conduct that prevented lawyers from having contact with jurors after the trial, and would be asking that this was changed.
"[We are] of the view that it is not wise for counsel to have contact with jurors after the trial and will make recommendations to the New Zealand society to have the rules of professional conduct amended to make it clear that [lawyers] do not make contact with jurors after the trial," said Mrs Wong.
Mr Kovacevich's incident happened after a seven-week methamphetamine conspiracy trial in the Auckland District Court in October.
At the trial four defendants were found guilty and four others were acquitted.
The Herald has contacted 11 of the 12 jurors, five of whom attended a party at Mr Kovacevich's home, where they met David McLean, Mr Kovacevich's client whom they had just acquitted.
Two jurors told of seeing powder cut into lines.
One said she smoked cannabis, but left after being taken into a room and given a $20 note through which to inhale the powder.
She said she heard from another female juror that she herself took drugs and that a third juror had sex at the party.
Neither Mr Kovacevich nor Mr McLean wanted to comment when contacted by the Herald last night.
Lawyer who partied with jury escapes discipline
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