Paul Blair suspended from legal practice

FILE

Rotorua beneficiaries advocate Paul Blair has been suspended from legal practice for three years.

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal announced the decision this week stating the suspension would be carried out from March 12, this year.

Mr Blair, who is not currently practising law, admitted a disciplinary charge of having been convicted of offences punishable by imprisonment which reflected on his fitness to practise or tended to bring the profession into disrepute.

Mr Blair was found guilty of two charges in the Hamilton District Court in 2013 of selling cannabis and possessing cannabis for the purpose of sale.

In Rotorua in 2010 he sold one cannabis tinnie for $20 to an undercover police officer and at the time of sale was also holding three other tinnies in his hand.

New Zealand Law Society prosecutions manager Mark Treleaven said the tribunal's decision was "entirely justified".

"This is a serious matter which has marred the high standard of conduct that is expected of every lawyer in New Zealand," he said.

Mr Blair works at the Rotorua People's Advocacy Centre and said for him it would be "business as usual".

"The two marijuana offences took place in December 2010 and it will now be 2018 before I can practise as a lawyer again.

"For me it is business as usual and I will be continuing my advocacy work in the Rotorua community much as I have done over the last 20 years."

Mr Blair said he believed the suspension was "relatively tough, however the penalty fell short of being struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors and I have to take that as a positive".