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Amendment of Act of 1994.
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13.—The Act of 1994 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following section after section 10:
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“10A.—(1) Where, in relation to a complaint made to the Society alleging misconduct by a solicitor or a complaint under section 8(1) or 9(1) of this Act, it appears to the Society that the solicitor concerned is obstructing the investigation of the complaint by the Society by refusing, neglecting or otherwise failing, without reasonable cause—
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(a) to respond appropriately in a timely manner, or at all, to correspondence from the Society in relation to the complaint, or
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(b) to attend a meeting convened by the Society at which the complaint would be considered,
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the Society may apply to the High Court for an order compelling the solicitor to respond appropriately within a specified time to such correspondence or to attend such a meeting.
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(2) An order under subsection (1) of this section may provide for censuring the solicitor and requiring the solicitor to pay a money penalty and for such matters of a consequential nature as the Court considers appropriate.
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(3) Where an order under subsection (1) of this section requires a solicitor to pay a money penalty, the order shall operate as a judgment against the solicitor in favour of the Society, and the money penalty, when recovered, shall be paid into the Compensation Fund.
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(4) In subsection (1) of this section, ‘meeting convened by the Society’ includes a meeting convened by a committee to which functions of the Society which may be performed by the Council have been delegated pursuant to section 73 (as amended by the Act of 1960 and this Act) of the Principal Act.”.
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