Lindsay Boyd Gribben has been struck off the Roll of Barristers and Solicitors by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.

Mr Gribben had admitted misappropriating funds to the total of almost $900,000 during September 2008 and November 2018. Aggravating the offending was the fact that some of the clients resided overseas and were reliant on Mr Gribben’s honesty in operating accounts for them in New Zealand and acting on major transactions on their behalf. Further, two of the other clients were elderly clients residing in rest homes.

The Tribunal stated: “A lawyer’s handling of trust funds is at the very heart of the fiduciary relationship between lawyer and client and the obligations must be treated as sacrosanct. When they are breached in such a gross way there can be no other penalty than removal of the practitioner from the profession entirely.”

Mr Gribben accepted his wrongdoing and consented to being struck off the Roll.