By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice multimedia journalist, Palmerston North of 
Aaron Nicholls was struck from the roll of barristers and solicitors. Photo: Supplied / X
Lawyer Aaron Nicholls can tell you exactly what he didn't spend over $700,000 of his client's money on: Drugs, boats or gambling.
What he can't say for certain is exactly where it went.
Nicholls was suspended from practice this year after several clients raised concerns about their money, which was held in a trust account by Nicholls' firm, and while the Law Society tried to figure out where the money had gone.
Nicholls doesn't dispute there's a hole of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in his ledgers, but he told the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal this week that he didn't pocket the money.
"It may seem irrelevant, but I don't think any of the material contains evidence that I pocketed money," Nicholls told the tribunal.
"It's not the case that I have used or stashed away money taken from the trust account."
"I was benefited by continuing to be able to practise," Nicholls said.
"If you think I took the money to a casino, I didn't.
"I have not taken money and bought a boat, or drugs, or gambled or whatever."
The deputy chair of the tribunal, Dr John Adams, described Nicholl's submissions as "nonsense".
"It doesn't make sense in what we would call the real world," Adams said.
"There was money in your trust account, it was taken by your action, and has never been seen since."
Nicholls said the Law Society had locked him out of the trust account so he couldn't say exactly how he'd kept his practice afloat or how he'd used his client's funds, but accepted he'd be struck off for it.
"All I can say is I apologise to you, to the clients, and to the public in general," he said.
"I loved being a lawyer most of the time. I'm horribly ashamed of what has happened ... I won't go on about that, no one needs those theatrics.
"I accept that I'll be struck off and never be able to practise law again."
The tribunal issued its reserved decision on Friday, striking Nicholls from the roll of barrister and solicitors.
"Put simply, Mr Nicholls made over $700,000 worth of unauthorised transactions in his trust account from November 2017 onwards; he provided false statements to clients to conceal his wrongdoing through to February 2024," the tribunal said in its finding.
"Mr Nicholls attended the hearing. He has not explained where the money went. He submits it has not been proved that he benefited personally from his defalcations. He has given no account of the missing funds in any proper sense."
The Law Society's fidelity fund, a pool of money clients whose lawyers have stolen from them can apply to for compensation, has already paid out $400,000 to six claimants in relation to the missing money. The three additional claims total $224,000.
The tribunal found it had no option other than to strike Nicholls from the roll.
"We record that Mr Nicholls expresses sorrow for the inconvenience caused by his actions, but we do not find this convincing in the absence of any useful information about what began the landslide."
"In his affidavit evidence, Mr Nicholls distanced himself from his actions and did not explain the circumstances around his defalcations."
The tribunal also ordered that Nicholls pay $36,000 in legal costs.
-This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
