The solicitor and property developer whose assets were frozen by the Law Society last week amid concerns over his financial dealings is expected to appear before the High Court today to defend himself.
It had been reported that the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had fled the country last week.
However, he has since returned and is planning to appear before the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Richard Johnston, at a hearing this morning, according to sources close to him.
The man, who has a significant overseas property business in addition to his Irish legal practice, is expected to plead he is confident he has more than sufficient funds to discharge his debts to his banks.
He will claim there is no deficit in his client account, the sources said.
The case is listed as "Law Society of Ireland v L" in the legal diary for hearing today at 11.30am under the schedule of the High Court.
The man is being represented by Dublin solicitor Giles J Kennedy, who was himself involved in a long-running and unrelated legal dispute with the Law Society that he eventually won on appeal.
Martin Hayden SC and James Gilhooley will represent the solicitor and property developer at the centre of the case during a hearing tomorrow morning.
As the case is being taken under the Solicitors Act, it will be heard in camera, meaning that members of the public and the press will be excluded.
Several legal sources expressed surprise over the weekend that the solicitor and property developer who is married and in his late 30s was at the centre of such a case.
The man has built a large property portfolio in Ireland in recent years, as his overseas property business grew significantly due to the large numbers of Irish clients buying holiday villas in southern and eastern Europe.
It has been alleged he has taken out multiple mortgages on a number of properties with several major Irish banks and that the sum of money involved is greater than €25 million.
It is believed that one of the solicitor's colleagues became concerned over some of his dealings and contacted the Law Society, which launched its legal action and obtained an ex parte injunction against him last week, freezing the assets of his legal firm.
The man is believed to have been in Portugal late last week. However, he returned to Ireland over the weekend for the hearing today. It is understood that the man is planning to meet his bankers this week.
