Dead client and “zombie company” land lawyer Pat Lennon in strife from beyond the grave

Controversial lawyer Pat Lennon has been found to have abused court processes after running a bankruptcy case for a company owned by a dead man.

Lawyer Pat Lennon (middle) with Danny Nikolic (left) outside the Victorian Supreme Court. Picture: Ellen Smith

Controversial lawyer Pat Lennon abused court processes by launching bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of a dead man, a court has found.

The decision came after Mr Lennon, whose previous clients have included underworld figure Mick Gatto and former jockey Danny Nikolic, was accused in court of taking “instructions from beyond the grave” and acting on behalf of “a zombie company”.

It has resulted in memes circulating depicting Mr Lennon using a phone connected to a gravestone.

Mr Lennon and his wife, Jane, are already under investigation by legal regulators over issues including their conduct in a related case, which a judge referred to the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner last year.

Jane Lennon with husband Pat Lennon. Picture: Supplied

The lawyer has been overseas for several weeks and on Wednesday sold the Melbourne CBD office he co-owns with his former business partner, Nick Mazzeo, for $3.5m.

On March 10, Federal Court Judicial Registrar Amelia Edwards set aside a bankruptcy notice Mr Lennon issued against a Melbourne couple on behalf of a company called JE Finance.

The company was owned and run by a man named Jack Erman, who died in March last year.

After Mr Erman died, JE Finance launched bankruptcy proceedings, citing a debt it claimed to be owed of about $20,000 arising from a complicated financial dispute.

Mr Lennon claimed to have “ongoing instructions” from Mr Erman that allowed him to run the legal action.

However, Registrar Edwards said the lawyer had been unable to provide any concrete evidence that he had instructions from Mr Erman that were valid beyond his death.

“This is not merely a formal defect capable of being cured by any provision of the [Bankruptcy] Act or the court’s rules,” she said.

“It renders the bankruptcy notice a nullity and an abuse of process. Accordingly, the bankruptcy notice must be set aside.”

A meme depicting Melbourne solicitor Pat Lennon talking on a phone connected to a gravestone. Picture: Supplied

At an earlier hearing, Andrew Burnett, who represented the couple targeted in the case, questioned who could be giving Mr Lennon instructions in the matter given Mr Erman’s death.

“If it’s instructions from beyond the grave, that’s not permissible in law,” Mr Burnett told the court during a hearing on February 28.

“The court won’t permit a zombie company to continue actions in circumstances where there are no instructions to enliven it.

“The instructions that are said to have been given to Mr Lennon are the instructions of a dead man.”

Legal Services Commissioner Fiona McLeay, who has previously asked the public to come forward with information about the Lennons, declined to comment on Registrar Edwards’ ruling.