- FileLightbourne
Klao Bell, Staff Reporter
THE legal profession is hurting from the number of high-profile cases that have revealed the dishonesty of some top lawyers.
There has been a steady stream of lawyers who, over the last seven years, have been disbarred by the General Legal Council (GLC) at an average rate of two per year.
However, several lawyers who have either been disbarred or suspended by the Council, have continued to practise and the Council is considering ways of flushing them out of the system.
The Council "has under active consideration, the employment of a person to carry out investigations" of these lawyers, Dorothy Lightbourne, chairperson of the disciplinary committee of the GLC said.
The latest lawyer to be banned from practising in Jamaica was Dahlia Allen who is under investigation for allegedly failing to turn over millions of dollars to several clients. She is the 14th lawyer since 1995, against whom the Council has had to take strong action for "inability to account for clients' funds" or "failure to pay clients monies due to them".
However, a number of other lawyers have been suspended, fined or reprimanded for "failure to deal with the clients business expeditiously, failure to provide the clients with information as to the progress of matters when requested to do so and failure to give account of monies in hand when requested to do so."
Responding to questions posed by The Sunday Gleaner, Mrs. Lightbourne said the same lawyers were often repeatedly involved in dishonest practices.
"The same attorneys were always involved and they are being expelled from the profession when found guilty of such offences," she said.
Public confidence
She said high-profile cases "involving clients' money have affected public confidence in the profession."
Past Gleaner reports show that a number of lawyers have been disbarred or imprisoned for fraud.
In 2001, Donald Bernard was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for fraud and was later disbarred.
In 2000, 70-year-old Myrtle Johnson, was disbarred after being convicted of obtaining $440,000 by falsely pretending she had lawful authority to sell a piece of property. Additionally, noted lawyer, Barry Frankson was also disbarred in 2000 for what a report said was "unprofessional conduct".
The Council is swamped with complaints from unsatisfied clients. Since the start of the year, 91 allegations have been received against lawyers, while a whopping 220 were received last year. Again, most complaints are about money.
Mrs. Lightbourne pointed out that "most complaints are due to a failure of the attorneys to communicate with the clients. This leads to misunderstanding, lack of confidence and the breakdown of relationship."
The Sunday Gleaner spoke with a woman, who is also a legal secretary, who is conducting business on behalf of her family in Canada. She told The Sunday Gleaner that the lawyer took a long time to hand over the proceeds even though the sale on the house was completed.
She said that at the time she had not considered approaching the Council because she "just" wanted her money back.
The GLC is the regulatory arm of the profession. In addition to registering lawyers and establishing codes of practise, the Council investigates complaints against lawyers, "with the evidence in support.
