STRUCK OFF THE ROLLS

Otago Witness, Issue 4085, 28 June 1932, Page 10

STRUCK OFF THE ROLLS

COURT OF APPEAL ORDERS. WELLINGTON, June 22. On the application of the New Zealand Law Society the Court of Appeal made an order striking Claude Haughton Mills, barrister and solicitor 1 , formerly practising at Blenheim, off the rolls of barristers and solicitors of the Dominion. Counsel for Mills said that he had to submit to an order being made. A number of irregularities alleged could be satisfactorily explained, but a larger one and the fact of a deficit in the trust account could not. The solicitor himself had gained no personal benefit from the shortage in his account. He had overinvested for his clients. Losses were made, and these losses had been made up from the money of other clients. The solicitor had securities representing a considerable portion of the deficit, and was endeavouring to pay 20s in the £. Mills was held in very high esteem in Marlborough, and for months and months he had been extremely ill, which undoubtedly led to confusion in the running of his practice. Costs (15 guineas) and disbursements were allowed the Law Society. An order was also made striking James Joseph Fitzgerald, of Christchurch, off the rolls of solicitors of the Dominion. The practitioner was not represented.