{"id":463168,"date":"2026-05-23T09:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T09:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/463168\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T09:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T09:23:16","slug":"solicitor-cleared-of-misconduct-over-e10000-he-returned-to-couple-after-their-bankruptcy-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/463168\/","title":{"rendered":"Solicitor cleared of misconduct over \u20ac10,000 he returned to couple after their bankruptcy \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Dublin<\/a> solicitor facing an accusation he aided a couple in an attempt to conceal \u20ac10,000 from the official administering their bankruptcy has been cleared of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Anthony Joyce, principal solicitor and founder of Anthony Joyce & Co Solicitors, the Liberties, Dublin 8<\/a>, has been cleared of the allegations of misconduct brought by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority<\/a> (LSRA).<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, which heard evidence and adjudicated on the case, Joyce welcomed the decision, saying he had for decades \u201cworked with integrity and dedication to help clients\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always acted in good faith and in full accordance with my professional duties, and I am relieved and pleased that this has now been confirmed. Both myself and my clients have been completely vindicated,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

At a hearing in January 2025, barrister Hugh McDowell, for the LSRA, said Joyce, who is a personal insolvency practitioner, attempted to \u201cshelter\u201d the \u20ac10,000 sum in his client account so that William and Mary Burke, of Portumna, Co Galway<\/a>, got the benefit of it.<\/p>\n

The Insolvency Service of Ireland<\/a> (ISI) alleged this involved committing a criminal offence under the Bankruptcy Act and conduct likely to bring the solicitors\u2019 profession into disrepute, the tribunal heard.<\/p>\n

Joyce did not keep any of the \u20ac10,000, the inquiry was told by Denis Ryan, operations manager in the ISI\u2019s bankruptcy division.<\/p>\n

The main allegation, of three, was that Joyce had instead retained the \u20ac10,000 \u201con behalf of\u201d the Burkes between November 27th, 2017, and November 28th, 2018, in the form of a bank draft and\/or in his client account.<\/p>\n

It was alleged this was done in the context of the Burkes being adjudicated bankrupt on November 27th, 2017, and that Joyce \u201cknew or ought to have known\u201d the money was an asset which should have gone to the official assignee for the benefit of the Burkes\u2019 creditors.<\/p>\n

However, it was argued by Joyce the money had always been for the payment of legal fees which he returned later out of sympathy for the couple. As such, the \u20ac10,000 was not an asset owned by the Burkes during the period it was held by him, he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the money having ultimately been returned, he argued, it was under his control for the 12 months in question. The money was not, it was suggested, therefore, the property of the Burkes during that period, meaning he was not holding it for them or helping them to conceal it.<\/p>\n

The tribunal found the LSRA had failed to prove the bank draft was the property of the Burkes during the 12-month period and therefore that it automatically vested in the official assignee as of November 27th, 2017, the date of the bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Joyce also faced an allegation that he \u201caided and\/or abetted\u201d the Burkes in an alleged effort to conceal \u201ccertain assets\u201d \u2013 the \u20ac10,000 \u2013 from the official assignee. He also faced a third allegation, that he \u201cfailed to disclose\u201d the existence of the asset which should have gone to the assignee.<\/p>\n

The tribunal found he was \u201cnot guilty of misconduct\u201d on all three counts. <\/p>\n

The second and third allegations were dependent on the \u20ac10,000 being found to be an asset owned by the Burkes, it concluded, but this was not found to be the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Dublin solicitor facing an accusation he aided a couple in an attempt to conceal \u20ac10,000 from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,63274,4500,61,28605,60,59682,43],"class_list":["post-463168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-dublin-8","tag-galway","tag-ie","tag-insolvency-service-ireland","tag-ireland","tag-legal-service-regulatory-authority-lsra","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}