Steven George Powell

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

The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council (Jamaica) found Attorney Steven Powell guilty of professional misconduct arising from his representation of complainant Tricia Wright Steele in a Supreme Court claim. Although he possessed since 2016 all the information needed to ground a counterclaim for money owed for renovation work, he never advised her on the efficacy of filing a counterclaim, never explained the limitation period (the cause of action arose in 2014 and expired in 2020), and took no written instructions confirming she did not wish to file one. He was found guilty of breaching Canons iv(r), iv(s) and 1(b). Several other allegations (unfair fees, failure to account, breach of undertaking, conflict of interest) were dismissed at the no-case stage. No express finding of dishonesty was made. A separate sanction hearing was to be set per Owen Clunie v GLC; no sanction, fine, or costs were stated in this decision.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession