Howard A. Lettman

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The attorney was retained by the Complainant and his wife to act on the purchase of a property for $250,000. They paid a $200,000 deposit on 24 June 1994, but the sale was never completed and the vendor remained in possession. Despite repeated requests over 14 years, the attorney did not refund the deposit. The Committee found him guilty of professional misconduct for breaching Canons 4(r), 4(s), 7(b)(ii) and 1(b). He did not appear at the hearings. He was ordered to make restitution of $200,000, suspended from practice until paid, and to pay $50,000 costs to the Complainant and $50,000 costs to the General Legal Council, with costs to be paid before the suspension is lifted.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=100000"]