Regulatory Regime

In accordance with the provisions of Professional Conduct if a Member is found to have contravened the Standards of Conduct the General Council shall have authority to take any one or more of the following courses of action, that is to say:

1. to reprimand or severely reprimand the Member.
2. to require the Member to give an undertaking to refrain from continuing or repeating the conduct which is found to have constituted the contravention.
3. to suspend the Member from Membership of the Institute for such periods as the General Council may determine.
4. to expunge the Member from the Institute.
5. to order the Member to pay the expenses incurred by the Institute in the investigation of the complaint and the disciplinary proceedings against the Member including but not limited to legal costs incurred therefor.

If in respect of a Member there is produced to the General Council,

1. evidence of conviction by a Court of competent jurisdiction for any criminal offence involving embezzlement, theft, corruption, fraud or dishonesty of any kind or any other criminal offence carrying on first conviction a maximum sentence of not less than twelve months imprisonment; or
2. a legal notice that he has been adjudicated bankrupt or a certified copy of a deed of arrangement he has entered with or for the benefit of his creditors; and
3. a copy of a letter sent by the Institute to the Member

1. 1. informing him of the authority of the General Council;
   2. giving him not less than 21 days’ notice of the date of the meeting of the General Council at which the matter is to be considered; and
   3. inviting him to make such submissions in writing as he may think fit.

the General Council after considering any submission as aforesaid may either:

1. refer the matter to the Committee of Investigation hereinafter mentioned for enquiry and action; or
2. without further enquiry forthwith expunge the Member from the Institute.

The General Council may, if they think fit temporarily suspend the Member from membership of the Institute pending such enquiry as last aforesaid.

All decisions of the General Council shall take immediate effect and shall be duly recorded; and the General Council may cause to be published in the Journal and in such newspapers or other publications as the General Council may think fit notice of reprimand or severe reprimand; suspension or expulsion of a Member together with such particulars as the General Council shall think desirable of the misconduct, conviction or other matter for which the penalty in question was imposed.

If a Member is expunged his name shall be removed from the Register and he shall thereupon cease for all purposes to be a Member of the Institute. His diploma of Membership shall be returned immediately to the Institute and he shall not be entitled to use any designation or description which implies membership or former membership of the Institute.

If a Member is suspended, he shall not be entitled during the period of his suspension to exercise any of the rights or privileges of membership of the Institute. He shall however remain in all other respects subject to the exercise of the Institute’s disciplinary authority in respect of any contravention of those provisions committed by him during the period of his suspension.

Once a Member has been notified that a complaint or allegation has been made against him or that a conviction, bankruptcy or other matter mentioned in these guidance notes has been notified to the Institute he shall not be entitled to resign from membership of the Institute and any such proceedings may be continued notwithstanding his attempted resignation.

The Disciplinary Board

The Disciplinary Board shall be drawn from a Disciplinary Panel.

The Disciplinary Panel shall be appointed by the General Council. Members shall be appointed for a period of two years. The Disciplinary Panel shall consist of a maximum of twenty Members.

The Disciplinary Board shall be selected by the President and shall consist of not less than three nor more than five members of the Disciplinary Panel, as the President may decide. A Member appointed to the Committee of Investigation shall not be appointed to the Disciplinary Board. The President shall appoint one of the members of the Board to be its chairman. The chairman of the Board shall appoint a Member of the Institute to be the secretary. The President shall also advise two other members of the Disciplinary Panel to hold themselves in readiness to replace any of those selected who may in the event be unable to attend the hearing. The Board shall sit with an assessor being a solicitor or barrister of not less than ten years standing and who shall be appointed by the President.

Disciplinary Procedure

The Committee of Investigation

When a complaint or allegation is made against a Member the President shall appoint a Committee of Investigation and the Honorary Secretary shall transmit to the Committee details of the complaint or allegation, together with any documentary evidence in support thereof.

The Honorary Secretary shall inform the Member of the complaint or allegation made against him and shall also inform him that a Committee of Investigation has been appointed.

The Committee shall consider the documents and may either reach a conclusion thereon or call for further information or evidence from the complainant or from any other person.

The Committee shall keep minutes of its investigations and decisions, but the circulation of those minutes shall be confined to members of the Committee during the period of investigation after which they shall be made available to the Office Bearers of the General Council.

If the Committee recommends that the subject matter of the complaint or allegation should not become a formal charge it shall inform the Office Bearers of the General Council. The Office Bearers after due consideration of the Committee’s recommendation shall inform the Member of their decision in writing.

If the Committee recommends that the subject matter of the complaint or allegation should become a formal charge it shall inform the Office Bearers of the General Council. The Office Bearers after due consideration of the Committee’s recommendation shall inform the Member of their decision in writing. In the event of the Office Bearers accepting the Committee’s recommendation the President shall appoint a Disciplinary Board and the Honorary Secretary shall be given such assistance as he may need for the purpose of instructing the Institute’s solicitors and (if they so advise) counsel to draw up the charge and generally prepare the case for presentation to the Disciplinary Board.

The Disciplinary Board

When the charge has been drawn up the Honorary Secretary shall after consultation with the Chairman of the Board fix a date, time and place for the hearing (sufficiently far ahead for the Member to be given not less than 28 days’ notice thereof) and shall:

1. by recorded delivery post addressed to the Member’s last known address:

1. 1. send him a copy of the charge;
   2. invite him (if he so wishes) to submit a written answer by way of defense to the charge;
   3. inform him of the date, time and place of the hearing and of his rights under the provisions of Professional Conduct as aforesaid;
   4. call upon him to state within the next 14 days whether he intends to appear at the hearing and if so whether only in person or by solicitor and/ or counsel;
   5. warn him that if he does not elect to appear at the hearing the Board may proceed in his absence;
   6. require him to serve on the Honorary Secretary not less than 14 days before the date of the hearing a list of such documents if any upon which he intends to rely at the hearing;
   7. inform him that the Institute is also required to serve upon the Member not less than 14 days before the hearing a list of the documents to which the Institute intends to refer;
   8. inform him that either he or the Institute (as the case may be) may require copies of any documents included in a list served by either of them upon payment of any proper charge therefor; and
   9. send him a copy of the procedure note for the conduct of the hearing approved by the General Council;
2. send to the Institute’s solicitor a copy of the letter and accompanying documentation sent in pursuance of the foregoing requirements; and
3. make arrangements for the hearing by the Board.

If the Member charged fails to attend either in person or by solicitor or counsel before a Board either at an original hearing or at any adjourned hearing or otherwise avail himself of his rights the Board shall satisfy itself that he was duly given notice thereof and has not shown good cause for his failure to attend and if so satisfied may proceed in his absence and without further reference to him.

A Board may at its discretion adjourn a hearing from time to time.

The Board shall:

1. conduct the hearing in a judicial manner in accordance with the procedure approved by the General Council; and
2. if its finding is that the charge is proved, receive evidence of the Member’s record and hear any statement or speech in mitigation by the Member or on his behalf.