The person, whose name has been suppressed, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday facing two charges of altering a document with intent to deceive.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
According to court documents, the first incident took place on October 14, 2022, and involved an invoice of $30 from an optician.
It is alleged the lawyer altered the paperwork to read $359.
Similarly, the other charge, stemming from a similar period, alleged they changed a dental invoice from $128 to $1258.
The defendant stood to receive $1617, a net gain of $1459 on the original value of the invoices.
A New Zealand Law Society spokesman said lawyers were required to uphold ‘‘professional obligations and be a fit and proper person to practise law’’.
The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has the power to strike off or suspend a lawyer from practice in New Zealand.
In certain circumstances, the tribunal may suspend a lawyer from practice on an interim basis pending the outcome of a disciplinary matter, the spokesman said.
The defendant was remanded at large (without bail conditions) and will be back before the court next month, when they will be expected to enter pleas to the charges.
