A Nelson lawyer is facing seven misconduct charges including allegations of perjury stemming from his involvement with a Bahamas-based investment company.
The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal is sitting in Nelson this week to hear the misconduct charges against Michael Gilbert pertaining to work he conducted between 1998 and 2004.
Mr Gilbert used to have a practice in Collingwood St. Among the charges brought against him by the Law Society’s Nelson branch, it is alleged that Mr Gilbert falsely witnessed signatures, failed to disclose information to the High Court, provided incomplete lists of documentation in court cases and gave false evidence.
Law Society counsel Peter Whiteside said the charges arose from two litigations – one filed in the High Court in Dunedin in 1999 by Imperial Consolidated Group and Imperial Consolidated Securities against David Stewart, and a claim by Nelson businessman David Hobbs against Mr Gilbert in the High Court in Nelson in 1999.
