Filenews 7 January 2023
A female lawyer was removed from the lawyers' register after she was found guilty of disciplinary misconduct involving incompatible conduct with her profession.
As stated in the decision of the Disciplinary Board of Lawyers, upon her admission, while she was executor of the estate of a deceased person, she collected the money from the sales of two apartments without returning them to the beneficiaries, as well as amounts related to rents. The lawyer was found guilty by the Disciplinary Board consisting of Xenios Xenopoulos, president, Charalambos Zoppos and Stavros Stavrou, on eight charges, but did not appear at her trial.
The 1st category reads: "You are being dismissed because while you were a lawyer registered in the Register of practicing lawyers and practicing law during or about the years 2014-2019, you demonstrated incompatible conduct with the profession of lawyer and specifically while you were executor of the will of the deceased L. K., you failed to inform the heirs of his estate regarding the actions, the handling and course of their case."
The 2nd category concerns its failure "to exercise the diligence reasonably expected by the heirs, i.e. to proceed within the time limits set by law to the inventory of the property, its administration and distribution as well as the registration of final accounts". The 3rd and 4th categories concern the collection of the amounts of €50,000 and €75,000 which came from the sale of two apartments, without returning them to the heirs. The 5th and 6th categories concern the collection in two cases of amounts of €1,922.78 and €1,432.88 which concerned rents that again did not give to the heirs, while the 7th category also concerns the collection of an amount of €20,000 without being attributed to the legal heirs. Finally, the 8th charge concerns its failure to express its views on the charges to the Attorney General.
According to the Disciplinary Board, these are particularly serious accusations which do not do honour to the legal profession. It is also noted that the lawyer in question is burdened with previous convictions on which fines were imposed. The seriousness of the offenses faced by the defendant is indisputable and the fact that she chose not to appear before the Disciplinary Board, shows both her indifference to the institutions and to the procedures themselves followed. The repeated behaviour of discrediting the institutions, the Disciplinary Court notes, cannot be ignored when sentencing. She was eventually sentenced to have her name removed from the Register of Lawyers.
*It is noted that the affected lawyer has filed an appeal against the disciplinary board's sentence.
