{"id":412741,"date":"2026-05-05T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412741\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:55:09","slug":"ex-lawyer-jinyue-paul-young-convicted-for-role-in-drafting-dying-mans-hospital-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412741\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-lawyer Jinyue (Paul) Young convicted for role in drafting dying man\u2019s hospital will"},"content":{"rendered":"

While it\u2019s accepted that Young has not held a practising certificate since 2018 \u2013 and Young can be heard on the video referring to himself as a \u201clawyer of the High Court\u201d<\/a> \u2013 he claimed he told Li and Lane he was a \u201dretired lawyer”, could not practise law, and had therefore not breached the act. <\/p>\n

However, in her just-released decision, Judge Davenport ruled Young had acted unlawfully and entered a conviction against his name. He now faces a fine of up to $50,000 when he is sentenced at a later date. <\/p>\n

\u2018Chequered disciplinary history\u2019<\/p>\n

Davenport\u2019s ruling says Young was formally dressed in a suit \u201clooking like he was at the hospital for professional reasons\u201d and was paid $800 in cash for drafting the will. <\/p>\n

She noted that his drafting \u201cwas not of a high standard\u201d and was subsequently set aside by the High Court. <\/p>\n

The judge said Young had a \u201cchequered disciplinary history\u201d. He was first suspended in 2018 for 15 months, then again in 2020 for a further two and a half years \u201cfor what is described as incompetent and woeful conduct\u201d. <\/p>\n

The April 2023 video showed a frail Lane lying in his hospital bed signing a will setting out the final division of his property and cash assets<\/a>, which includes gifting $500,000 to Li. <\/p>\n

Lane\u2019s eyes remained closed for much of the video. Many of his answers were unintelligible and he appeared to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

Young is seen taking instructions from various people. Much of the conversation is carried out in Chinese. <\/p>\n

Davenport said Young took a draft will template to the hospital containing \u201cprompts\u201d for information that had to be recorded. <\/p>\n

One of two videos shown to the court recorded Young discussing details around the appointment of an executor and trustee.<\/p>\n

Judge Davenport noted Young\u2019s explanation on these points was \u201clegally wrong\u201d. <\/p>\n

Young told the court he had arranged for a colleague to visit the hospital and carry out a capacity test on Lane \u201cto do the transfer of properties\u201d in accordance with the will. <\/p>\n

However, the colleague did not carry out a capacity assessment after visiting Lane and did not transfer any property.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard to see how Mr Young could ever have thought that any transfer of property would take place just after the drafting of the will,\u201d Davenport wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe may have been referring to a time after Mr Lane\u2019s death and the grant of probate. However, this was not clear from the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young advised beneficiary to alter will by hand<\/p>\n

The judge also noted that after executing the will, Young advised Li she could hand alter the document to add the word \u201cnot\u201d in one of the clauses. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis had the effect of altering the will from a provision to share the legacy of $500,000 given to Ms Li to not having to share it. Mr Young said he would retype the will after the amendment and get it resigned. However, he was prevented from doing this at the hospital when he returned.\u201d <\/p>\n

Davenport said that despite the fact he was drafting Lane\u2019s will and receiving payment of $800 from Lane\u2019s wallet, Young appeared to have aligned himself with Li \u201cfrom the beginning\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the videos [Young] can be heard talking to her in Chinese and getting her instructions as to the provisions required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young claimed the videos had been tampered with and should be inadmissible because they didn\u2019t capture him saying he was a \u201cretired lawyer\u201d. <\/p>\n

But Davenport said \u201ca more likely explanation\u201d was that the videos simply started after he said these words, \u201cor he did not say it\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"FrankFrank Lane signed a will in his hospital bed prepared by ex-lawyer Jinyue (Paul) Young. The will has subsequently been ruled invalid and Young has been convicted of breaching the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The judge said it was accepted that Young did not have a practising certificate and was doing legal work when he drafted the will. <\/p>\n

The remaining issue was whether he described himself as a lawyer. <\/p>\n

She ruled Young had done so through the words he used and was therefore in breach of the act. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo support this conclusion is the way Mr Young behaved. He dressed like a lawyer, he took money, he gave legal advice (albeit wrong) and later tried to have the will re-executed. To the lay person he said he was a lawyer, and he acted like one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge said key purposes of the act were to protect consumers, uphold public confidence in the provision of legal services and recognise the status of the profession. <\/p>\n

\"FrankFrank Lane signed a will in his hospital bed. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cA person who gives legal advice and prepares documentation that affects people\u2019s rights, obligations and property must be appropriately qualified in law and certified to practise as a lawyer,\u201d Davenport said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe public would suffer serious consequences if legal services were conducted incompetently and by non-qualified persons, as had occurred in the present case.\u201d <\/p>\n

Charging and convicting people in such cases was the appropriate action to \u201ccondemn their actions\u201d and protect the public. <\/p>\n

\u2018You have to fight for the truth\u2019<\/p>\n

During last month\u2019s hearing, Li said she had been \u201clifelong friends\u201d with Lane after the pair met when she answered a personal advertisement he had placed wanting to meet a \u201cChinese girl\u201d. <\/p>\n

Asked about the $500,000 she was left, Li said Lane had acted as a father figure to her young son. She said she told Lane she didn\u2019t need his money.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said it\u2019s my property, my money\u201d and he would do with it as he wished, she said. <\/p>\n

She also revealed she had visited a psychic \u201cfortune teller\u201d for advice on whether she should appeal the invalidated will. <\/p>\n

\"LilyLily Li at her home in New Windsor. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked them to ask Frank does he really want me to fight this thing. The fortune teller said Frank said, \u2018You have to fight for the truth\u2019, so I\u2019m fighting for the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking the witness box, Young said he was Christian and \u201ccalled by God to be his servant\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said he told Li he was a \u201cretired lawyer\u201d, but she insisted he draft the will as \u201cthe old man was very sick\u201d and could die at any moment.<\/p>\n

He also said he had tried to have himself removed from the Law Society\u2019s roll but received no response, \u201cso legally I\u2019m still an enrolled lawyer of the High Court\u201d. <\/p>\n

Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While it\u2019s accepted that Young has not held a practising certificate since 2018 \u2013 and Young can be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1558,5767,15970,212191,42834,211749,1888,2082,71,29888,2241,78,82646,212190,16099,16122,111,139,69,17357,52871,205,213,18834,17251,1533,212192,4741],"class_list":["post-412741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-been","tag-convicted","tag-conviction","tag-drafting","tag-dying","tag-exlawyer","tag-first","tag-for","tag-from","tag-handed","tag-hospital","tag-in","tag-incompetent","tag-jinyue","tag-kind","tag-mans","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paul","tag-practice","tag-role","tag-sports","tag-suspended","tag-twice","tag-will","tag-woeful","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}