Dublin solicitor barred from independent practice for 10 years

High Court president Judge David Barniville this week ordered Edward O’Brien, formerly of Edward J O’Brien Solicitors in Lucan, not to practise as a legal practitioner except as an employee for a decade. He was also directed to pay costs arising from the disciplinary inquiry.

Mr O’Brien, who was not represented at the hearing, has not had a practising certificate since 2022.

The sanctions follow a complaint made to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority by PTSB, then Permanent TSB, in August 2021.

The bank had claimed Mr O’Brien failed to comply with an undertaking connected to the sale of a property in Lucan. Acting for the purchasers, he was accused of failing to provide relevant sale documents and of not communicating with the bank regarding the undertaking.

A hearing before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in January found the allegations proven and concluded the conduct amounted to misconduct under the Solicitors Act 1960 and Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.

The tribunal found the conduct “tended to, and was likely to, bring the solicitors’ profession into disrepute”.

Mr O’Brien had previously been suspended from practice in unrelated High Court proceedings in 2023.