Peter Robert Dallison Struck Off Roll

MEDIA RELEASE – For immediate use, 6 March 2013

Peter Robert Dallison Struck Off Roll Of Barristers And Solicitors

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has ordered that Peter Robert Dallison be struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors.

This follows Mr Dallison’s admission of a charge of serious misconduct under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 which was brought by the Nelson Standards Committee of the New Zealand Law Society.

The Law Society took action against Mr Dallison after he acted for clients who wished to purchase a property in Auckland. He did not provide them with a letter of engagement or other required information.

Mr Dallison also lent money to the clients through a company in which he and his wife were shareholders. Although there was a risk of conflict between his interests and those of his clients, he failed to advise them to obtain independent legal advice. It was later accepted that this was a significant breach in his fiduciary relationship to his clients.

The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has granted the Law Society’s request that it find Mr Dallison no longer a fit and proper person to be a barrister and solicitor, and strike him from the roll.

In addition to being struck off Mr Dallison has been ordered to pay compensation of $15,000 to his former client, $11,149 in costs to the Law Society, and reimbursement of the tribunal’s costs of $2,450.

“As regulator of the legal profession, the Law Society is committed to ensuring high standards of conduct by practitioners,” Law Society President Jonathan Temm said.

“The public at large can be sure that members of the legal profession will be held to those high standards.”

ENDS

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