The Court of Appeal has shut down Auckland lawyer Gautam Jindal’s final bid to stave off a misconduct suspension, declining his application for leave to appeal a High Court decision that had already upheld disciplinary findings and penalty orders.
The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal had earlier found Jindal guilty of professional misconduct and imposed a six‑month suspension, censure, and orders for compensation and costs.
The Tribunal concluded his conduct amounted to harassment of another practitioner, and the High Court later endorsed that characterisation, holding that Jindal had “entirely failed to understand his fundamental obligations as a lawyer” and was not a fit and proper person at the time of the conduct. In January 2026, the High Court dismissed Jindal’s appeal against both liability and penalty, describing the six‑month suspension as “clearly warranted” and confirming the associated financial orders.
Jindal then sought leave from both the High Court and the Court of Appeal to challenge that outcome further, but each court declined to grant him a pathway to a substantive appeal. The suspension had been stayed while the appellate skirmishing played out, with an initial effective date of 2 February 2026 subsequently overtaken by the stay.
Following the Court of Appeal’s refusal of leave, the stay has lapsed and the six‑month suspension commenced on 2 June 2026, after an earlier indication it would start on 30 May was corrected.
For the profession, the decision underlines an increasingly unforgiving stance towards practitioners who weaponise online and offline communications against fellow lawyers, and it confirms that appellate courts are slow to interfere with carefully reasoned disciplinary findings on professional standards and sanctions.
