It has recommended to the society's national board that it oppose the application of Mr Guest for restoration to the roll of barristers and solicitors.
"The council is not satisfied that Mr Guest is a fit and proper person to be restored to the roll . . ."
The recommendation is contained in the branch's May newsletter, which goes on to say the council decided to publish the recommendation in response to questions it had received.
When contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Mr Guest said it was "incredible" he had to learn of the council's recommendation from the media.
"Well, it's sub judice, but I'm extremely disappointed. It makes it very difficult for me and I'm frankly really disappointed I learn that from the media and not from the law society itself."
Asked how the recommendation would cause him difficulty, Mr Guest said the society could consent, object or remain neutral to his application.
"So, they are going to object and say I'm not a fit and proper person. Well, that makes it extraordinarily difficult for me to win."
Otago branch president Brian Kilkelly and vice-president Alastair Logan were absent from last Tuesday's meeting, which was chaired by University of Otago associate law professor Donna Buckingham.
Prof Buckingham said yesterday she had moved the resolution.
She said it could be considered a submission that represented the views of the council.
Changes under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 mean Otago no longer has its own incorporated law society and 370 Otago lawyers are now a branch of the New Zealand society.
Ms Buckingham said it was up to the society to take a position on Mr Guest's restoration.
The ODT understands the society's board will decide next week where it stands.
Asked why the meeting voted to oppose Mr Guest's restoration, Prof Buckingham said: "There are matters within the society's knowledge that are considered relevant to the issue of whether or not Mr Guest is fit and proper."
She was not sure if those matters had been in the public domain before, but Mr Guest had a copy of the information on the matters.
Mr Guest, a former district court judge, was ordered struck off in December 2001 by the New Zealand Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal on two counts of professional misconduct, involving lying to a client when he told her she had been declined legal aid, and taking $25,000 more of her funds for his costs than he was entitled to.
Mr Guest's case for restoration is to be considered by the newly formed New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.
A date for a hearing has not yet been set.
Several Otago lawyers had written in support of Mr Guest's application.
In letters to the law society, lawyer and Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin said he had known Mr Guest for 30 years and had "no objection to him being able to practise law again"; fellow lawyer Joseph O'Neill considered him "a fit and proper person to be readmitted" and John Farry considered he had "done his best to rebuild his life" over the past seven years.
