Disgraced former solicitor Michael Lynn’s barristers withdraw over integrity question

Disgraced former solicitor Michael Lynn’s barristers have withdrawn from his appeal after telling a court that he had “raised a question about our professional integrity” and they no longer feel able to represent him.

The second day of Lynn’s appeal against his conviction for stealing more than €18 million from six financial institutions during the Celtic Tiger era had been due to get underway at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday morning.

Lynn’s challenge to the severity of his 5½-year sentence was rejected by the court in 2025.

However, when the matter was called on, Lynn’s counsel Barra McGrory told the court that an instruction from his client had arrived on Monday afternoon. He said this instruction sought that an application be made regarding “the composition of this court” relating to Lynn’s previous appeal against his sentence.

McGrory said “certain advice” was given to the appellant “about that instruction and request”, as a result of which “further communication” was received early on Tuesday morning that “raised a question about our professional integrity”.

Counsel said that having consulted the code of ethics, it was with “regret” he had to inform the court that he did not feel able to continue with the appeal on the basis that a question had been raised over his advice.

“I’m in an impossible position,” he said.

Judge John Edwards, sitting with Judge Isobel Kennedy and Judge Patrick McCarthy, asked whether Lynn intended to continue with the appeal himself if his barristers were permitted to withdraw.

He noted that McGrory had behaved “with complete integrity and propriety” during the appeal.

Asked for his view on the issue, John Berry, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the case had been going on for “an extraordinarily long time”. He noted that, since Lynn’s return to this jurisdiction, he has been represented by eight different firms of solicitors.

Edwards said in light of this “serious development”, the solicitor should be present.

He said it would be “very unsatisfactory” for the appeal to be abandoned, adding that it must proceed unless there was an “absolutely insurmountable obstacle”.

The matter was adjourned for a time and when the case came back before the court, both Lynn and his solicitor, Kevin Winters from KRW Law, appeared on video link.

The court granted the application for Lynn’s barristers to come off record, but Winters confirmed he was happy to continue representing the appellant.

Winters said that following “brief discussions” with his formerly instructed counsel, he believed a “pragmatic approach” would be to adopt the written submissions in respect of any remaining grounds.

However, before matters concluded, Lynn asked the court for some time to speak to his solicitor, and the court again rose for a time. Lynn apologised for not being present in court, saying he was at home because he has a chest infection.

When the matter returned before the three-judge court, Winters said he had been asked by his client to seek a short adjournment to instruct new counsel and to allow further oral submissions to be made.

The judge said Lynn has had “eight previous solicitors in this matter and to break the case in the middle of a hearing to enable him to instruct a ninth is a step too far as far as we are concerned”.

Edwards said the court did not believe Lynn would be disadvantaged with the case continuing on Tuesday.

He asked Winters if he had any submissions to make and when the solicitor said he did not, Edwards said the court would reserve judgment.

Lynn (58) was jailed for obtaining multiple mortgages on the same properties in a situation where banks were unaware that other institutions were also providing finance. These properties included Glenlion - Lynn’s €5.5 million home in Howth, Co Dublin - and multiple investment properties.

He had to be extradited from Brazil in 2018 after spending years resisting attempts to have him face charges. As part of the extradition agreement with Brazil, Lynn was to be given credit for the prison time he had already served.

Lynn, of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co Wicklow, had pleaded not guilty to theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, but he was found guilty by a jury of 10 people of the 21 theft counts against him following a second Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial. The jury in his first trial in 2022 failed to reach a verdict.