Lawyer Keith Jefferies might face consequences for his career over his offending, the judge said.

A prominent Wellington lawyer fined $1300 after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine and other drugs says he plans to appeal the conviction.

Keith Ian Jefferies, 67, was caught with drugs at his law office, home and a car he used.

He had initially pleaded not guilty to two charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of BK-MDMA, possession of utensils for methamphetamine use and possession of a psychoactive substance.

On Friday, he changed his plea to guilty and asked Wellington District Court judge David Ruth for a discharge without conviction.

Police searches in July last year found drugs in a car, a pipe and a point bag in his office and a point bag in his wallet along with other drugs like BK-MDMA - a derivative of Ecstasy - at his home.

Wellington District Court judge David Ruth said the explanation that Jefferies began to use methamphetamine because a client told him it would stabilise blood sugars did not find favour with him.

"That would suggest he was a stupid man…..and he does not strike me as as stupid man," the judge said.

Judge Ruth said he would have to categorise Jefferies as a recreational drug user.

The judge declined to discharge Jefferies and fined him instead, saying consequences for his career and inquiries from the Law Society might be expected.

Prosecutor Jamie O'Sullivan said Jefferies gave explanations that the utensils and drugs must have been left by others.

She told Judge Ruth that the guilty plea had come late in the day with the case prepped ready for trial and did not show any particular remorse.

O'Sullivan said there were no real details in the reports before the court, other than a counsellor saying Jefferies was not addicted to drugs.

She said it failed to address why he had the drugs and more than one type of drug.

Jefferies has a previous conviction for using a cellphone while driving.

After the hearing, he said he had plans to lodge an appeal because he wanted to pursue a discharge without conviction outcome.

Jefferies expected to hear from the Law Society, which he said was monitoring the situation - "but that's all part of the game."

"It's not sufficiently serious on the basis that they would strike me off."

The lawyer expected to continue business as usual.

"I carry on. I carry on - I mean, they can't take your mind away. There's a lot of things I can do, legally," Jefferies said. "I've got a lot of loyal clients."

LAWYER'S HIGHS AND LOWS

Keith Jefferies has represented drug dealers, rapists, killers - and even a victim of police brutality.

But his dubious claim to fame came in 2013 when he suggested a young Wellington rape victim "could have closed her legs."

Bouncer George Pule got nine years' prison after a jury found him guilty of raping the drunk woman in an alleyway.

Jefferies had told the 2013 trial jury "all she would have had to do was to close her legs . . . it's as simple as that. "

"Why didn't she do that? . . . The reason she didn't do that was because the sex was consensual, as easy as that."

Wellington Rape Crisis labelled the lawyer's comments "disgusting" and an example of "victim blaming rhetoric."

While facing drugs charges himself, Jefferies was defending a client in a high-profile "P" case.

He defended a woman who lived at an opulent Chews Lane apartment being used as a base for a multimillion-dollar methamphetamine operation, only metres from the Wellington Central Police Station.

Jefferies also acted for young Wellingtonian Jakob Christie, whose neck was broken by police in an illegal and violent break up of a Khandallah house party in 2009 when he was 19.

Police took three years to investigate Christie's claims of assault by police, and their delays and mistakes in the process were "inexcusable", the Independent Police Conduct Authority found in 2013.

In 2012, the lawyer defended a landmark case - a Wellington woman was accused of using methamphetamine while breastfeeding. The charge was later dropped.

In 2008, he defended a skinhead who tried to influence a juror by leaving a note with the words "not guilty" and a swastika on their doorstep. He previously represented an axe murder who escaped briefly from the old Wellington Prison at Mt Crawford.

- An earlier version of this article referred to Jefferies as a 'public defender'. Rather, he is in private practice as a Barrister and Solicitor.