Court documents obtained by RNZ detail the offending which occurred in April 2022.<\/p>\n
The summary of facts said the lawyer and his son were boxing on a concrete area at the rear of their address.<\/p>\n
The lawyer was a \u201cfully grown man and the victim is a small-built, 38kg 12-year-old child,\u201d the summary said.<\/p>\n
Both were wearing boxing gloves.<\/p>\n
The lawyer struck the victim\u2019s head causing him to bleed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victim said \u2018Please stop. I am serious\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant then struck the victim in the face followed by the stomach. This caused the victim to cry. He went to the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant continued to punch the victim on the ground. Eventually the victim said he could not breath and the defendant stopped. The victim then jumped the fence to get away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victim was taken to hospital and was initially diagnosed with a suspected fractured cheekbone and perforated liver, however after scans this was not the case.<\/p>\n
He sustained extensive bruising to his head and ears and a cut above his eye.<\/p>\n
He was admitted to hospital for three nights to allow observation and investigation of his possible injuries.<\/p>\n
The lawyer declined to comment to police.<\/p>\n
At sentencing, the man\u2019s lawyer, Michael Sandom, told the court the lawyer appeared before the court as a defendant and as a practising lawyer.<\/p>\n
Sandom said he was appearing among many of his colleagues and peers, which brought a level of \u201cembarrassment and shame\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c[He] is not a perfect person, but none of us are.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows the mistake that he made, he is remorseful for what occurred and, in my submission, shame for what occurred is an important theme for this sentencing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandom said the offending would stay with the lawyer \u201cfor the rest of his life\u201d.<\/p>\n
The offending was \u201cdistressing and repugnant\u201d to the lawyer.<\/p>\n
Name suppression was granted after the lawyer was sentenced to supervision. Photo \/ Nick Reed<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s ashamed for what occurred. He can barely face it, can barely talk about it, can barely engage with it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandom said the lawyer was a \u201ckind and generous person\u201d as well as an \u201cadvocate\u201d in the criminal jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
He accepted it was \u201cserious\u201d offending.<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae said the Crown opposed the lawyer\u2019s application for a discharge without conviction and said his affidavit for name suppression did not meet the threshold.<\/p>\n
Judge Savage said the matter had passed through the court system \u201cat glacial pace\u201d, with the first hearing in April 2022. The lawyer pleaded guilty during a trial after the victim had given evidence. Judge Savage said the lawyer\u2019s claim he did not see his son\u2019s statement until trial was \u201cimplausible\u201d.<\/p>\n
Judge Savage said it was \u201ccharitable\u201d to say the lawyer\u2019s guilty plea came at the 11th hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt came as the clock was striking 12.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he had no doubt the lawyer loved his son \u201cwith all your heart\u201d.<\/p>\n
In terms of aggravating factors, the judge pointed to the victim\u2019s age and the breach of trust.<\/p>\n
Judge Savage declined to discharge the lawyer without a conviction, but did grant final name suppression.<\/p>\n
He said he did not see the lawyer as a risk of reoffending.<\/p>\n
The lawyer has been practising for more than a decade. The New Zealand Law Society register does not say whether he holds a practising certificate.<\/p>\n
RNZ asked the New Zealand Law Society how the lawyer was able to continue practising while the matter was before the court.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the Law Society took any concerns regarding criminal offending by lawyers \u201cseriously\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonal conduct by a lawyer may be considered under the complaints and disciplinary framework in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (the Act) in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, a lawyer who holds a current practising certificate and admits to, or is found guilty of, criminal offending is not automatically suspended from practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said concerns or complaints must first be considered by independent Standards Committees who may refer matters to the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal, if the conduct was \u201csufficiently serious\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, section 40 of the act provides that a lawyer who has applied to renew their practising certificate may continue to practise while the application is being considered. This may include cases where proceedings are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if a lawyer could be suspended pending a complaint, the spokesperson said only the tribunal could make an order that a lawyer be suspended from practice, including for an interim period while any disciplinary process is underway, or strike a lawyer off the roll of barristers and solicitors following referral from a Standards Committee.<\/p>\n
The Disciplinary Tribunal is administered by the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n
Asked why the register did not have the expiry date for the lawyer\u2019s practising certificate, the spokesperson said the society was unable to comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeaking generally, practising certificates have an expiry date of June 30 each year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ministry of Justice acting group manager of National Service Delivery Louisa Carroll said the ministry could not comment on the circumstances of any individual lawyer or active court proceedings.<\/p>\n
Asked about the lawyer receiving legal aid clients, Carroll said legal aid providers must meet and maintain approval requirements and comply with the Legal Services Act, their legal aid provider contract, and professional obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLegal aid providers are also required to notify the Ministry within five working days if they are charged with, or convicted of, an offence punishable by imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere the ministry becomes aware of concerns about a provider, it may consider those concerns through its complaints, audit, quality assurance and provider approval processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carroll said depending on the circumstances, the ministry may take a range of actions, including imposing restrictions on a provider, modifying or cancelling their approval to undertake legal aid work, or referring matters to the New Zealand Law Society.<\/p>\n
\u201cApproved providers remain eligible to receive legal aid assignments unless their approval is changed, restricted, suspended, or cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cDecisions about a lawyer\u2019s practising certificate, ability to practise law, and disciplinary matters are the responsibility of the New Zealand Law Society and the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Court documents obtained by RNZ detail the offending which occurred in April 2022. The summary of facts said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13502,17704,5767,16718,293,28750,20053,101,111,43,139,69,1118,90,15768,22639,5977],"class_list":["post-575721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-12yearold","tag-assault","tag-convicted","tag-him","tag-his","tag-hospitalised","tag-lawyer","tag-left","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-sherwood","tag-son","tag-which"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575721","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=575721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}