Lawyer's 'incompetence' made him beneficiary of entire estate
A lawyer has been censured and fined $5,000 after he "clumsily" drafted a will that made him the beneficiary of the estate he was administering.
The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal found Joseph Boaz Park guilty of unsatisfactory conduct for his "incompetence in drafting a will."
"Park clumsily drafted a will with the result that it appeared to give the entire estate to him," the tribunal said.
"His incompetence in drafting the will produced a bizarre outcome but his conduct showed that his intentions were always to carry out what his client wanted. There was no risk of loss."
The tribunal also considered in the guilty verdict Park's persistence in communicating in Korean language, which his first language, as well as the beneficiary's.
His persistence came despite the beneficiary's request that they communicate in English.
"We found that he was discourteous to ignore her choice of cultural identification," the tribunal said.
It acknowledged that Park's persistence in Korean is understandable because the beneficiary could easily understand what he wrote.
"But in the context, he should have yielded to the beneficiary's request as acceptance of her cultural identity," the tribunal said.
In deciding for Park's penalties, the tribunal said a fine and censure will be appropriate, noting that the lawyer already had the embarrassment of having his name published in the case.
"He is in modest financial circumstances… but we are conscious of a need to send a message to both public and profession that these two instances of shortcoming cannot properly be dealt with in a negligible manner," the tribunal said.
As a result, Park has been ordered to pay $5,000, in addition to $12,504.08 as a contribution to costs of the Standards Committee.
The New Zealand Law Society is also ordered to pay Tribunal costs of $22,890, with Park to reimburse $4,578.
Park, who is now with a new employer, will also be supervised for a period of two years.
According to the tribunal, professional error for lawyers is always a risk when working in an unfamiliar area.
"A message in this decision is that lawyers must take care, seek assistance, even where the task may seem simple. It is the responsibility of the professional to protect their client against inadvertent error by seeking guidance in such cases," it said.
