Patrick E. Callanan struck off for professional misconduct
This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.
Patrick E. Callanan was struck off the Roll of Solicitors by High Court President Mr. Justice Kelly in a judgment delivered on 11 April 2018.
The fresh hearing followed Callanan’s successful appeal against an earlier High Court order preventing him from practising for ten years.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal had found him guilty of five counts of professional misconduct. Three concerned knowingly false earnings certificates for his sister: one to Permanent TSB dated 15 September 2004, one to ICS Building Society dated 14 September 2004, and one to IIB Home Loans Ltd. dated 15 September 2004.
The fourth concerned a certificate to Permanent TSB and IIB Home Loans falsely representing that his sister worked as a law clerk at Wells & O’Carroll. She had never worked there. The certificates were intended to help her obtain a mortgage.
The fifth concerned multiple undertakings to register first charges for lenders over a Carrickmacross property. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, Callanan placed undertakings before his partner and had him sign them. They were false and could never be met because a first charge already existed.
When the tribunal first convened on 22 March 2011, a letter from Callanan accepted the alleged facts and that they amounted to professional misconduct.
Callanan said he had faced extreme emotional pressure to help his sister. He apologised and accepted a complete breach of trust. The judgment recorded considerable distress and inconvenience to his partner over several years.
The judgment established that no financial loss resulted from either aspect of the misconduct. Sales of two Chinese properties discharged the liabilities by 2014, freeing his partner from potential liability. His sister had continuously serviced her mortgage.
The tribunal had recommended a limited practising certificate as an assistant solicitor with a solicitor of at least ten years’ standing, no cheque-signing rights over any client account, and disclosure of its findings to prospective solicitor employers.
The High Court found striking him off proportionate and appropriate to maintain public trust in the profession. It also ordered a contribution towards the Law Society’s tribunal costs and a sum concerning his tribunal attendances.