Naas Solicitors Censured and Fined by Disciplinary Tribunal

Two Kildare-based legal practitioners have been censured and ordered to pay a combined thirty thousand euro following misconduct findings by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The disciplinary outcome, delivered under record number 2024-LPDT09, concerns solicitors Andrew Coonan and Susanna Cawley of the firm Coonan Cawley, situated at Wolfe Tone House in Naas Town Centre. Both practitioners were found guilty of multiple professional breaches spanning statutory accounting regulations, settlement fee deductions, and strict conflict of interest guidelines governing Irish property conveyancing transactions.

Serious Breaches of Client Account Regulations

At the core of the Tribunal’s findings were widespread non-compliance issues concerning the Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2014, which govern the handling of client monies within Irish legal practices. The Tribunal established that both respondents breached Regulation 7(1) by withdrawing funds from accounts when they were not legitimately in funds to do so. Furthermore, the practitioners were found to have breached Regulation 7(2) by permitting a debit balance to emerge on a client ledger account, an occurrence strictly prohibited under professional accounting standards designed to protect public funds. The safeguarding of client accounts represents a cornerstone of legal practice in Ireland, ensuring that client balances remain completely segregated from general firm operational funds.

The regulatory scrutiny also uncovered deeper irregularities regarding how professional fees were handled within the Naas practice. Under Regulation 9(4), both solicitors improperly withdrew fees without adequate available funds or, in certain instances, utilised stakeholder money to meet practice fees. A related breach of Regulation 12(3) occurred when professional fees that were not properly payable to the firm were withdrawn from account balances. Additionally, the Tribunal noted a fundamental failure of record-keeping under Regulation 13, identifying that the solicitors failed to maintain adequate books, documentation, and records reflecting cash payments tendered by clients.

Conveyancing Conflicts and Settlement Fee Deductions

Beyond accounting and ledger deficiencies, the inquiry addressed serious professional conduct failures relating to direct client representations. In a conveyancing matter designated under file reference ORA002002, both solicitors breached Law Society conveyancing conflict-of-interest regulations by acting for both sides in a property transaction executed at below market value. Regulatory guidance across Ireland strictly limits the circumstances under which a single firm or practitioner can represent both vendor and purchaser, particularly where undervalue considerations introduce significant risks of disadvantage to one of the transacting parties.

The Tribunal also censured the practitioners for contraventions concerning client compensation recoveries under section 68(3) of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994. Under Irish law, legal practitioners cannot automatically deduct their professional fees from settlement funds or damages received on behalf of a client without clear, prior written authorisation. The Tribunal found that the firm had deducted professional fees directly from a settlement sum without having secured the mandatory written consent from the client, bypassing critical legislative transparency protections intended to protect claimants from unexpected financial deductions upon the resolution of legal disputes.

Sanctions Imposed and Broader Regulatory Oversight

Following the determination of guilt across all seven counts of misconduct, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal handed down identical disciplinary sanctions to each respondent. Andrew Coonan and Susanna Cawley were both formally censured by the Tribunal for their conduct. Each practitioner was directed to make a payment of ten thousand euro to the Law Society Compensation Fund, an overarching statutory fund that indemnifies members of the public against losses caused by dishonest or deficient practices by solicitors. Additionally, both practitioners were ordered to pay a contribution of five thousand euro each toward the applicant’s costs incurred during the disciplinary proceedings, bringing the total financial penalty against the two partners to thirty thousand euro.

The decision highlights the stringent regulatory environment overseen by modern Irish legal oversight structures, including the Legal Services Regulatory Authority and the independent Disciplinary Tribunal. These bodies enforce statutory standards across civil litigation, conveyancing, and dispute resolutions administered by bodies such as the Courts Service and the Workplace Relations Commission. By enforcing rigid accounting standards and curbing unauthorised fee deductions, the regulatory framework ensures that public trust in legal advisers and the integrity of claimant compensation remain safeguarded across the state.