Denis A. G. Tomlinson

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

Jamaican attorney Denis Tomlinson, who practised concurrently in Jamaica and New York, was added as a signatory to fellow attorney Lloyd McFarlane's New York IOLA client escrow account. The Disciplinary Committee found, applying the criminal standard of proof, that he improperly withdrew and converted client funds from that account (which fell from US$62,290 to zero), co-mingled funds, transferred client money to Jamaica without consent, and failed to account, in breach of trust and Canons 1(b) and VII(b). He had already been disbarred in New York after voluntarily resigning. The Committee found him not credible and guilty of professional misconduct of the gravest kind, ordering that his name be struck from the Roll. Although the Committee found conversion and breach of trust and described his conduct as disgraceful and dishonourable, it did not expressly use the word 'dishonesty'. No fine or costs were specified.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Attorney of 24 years' standing at the Jamaican Bar
• Already disbarred by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York for the same conduct
• Found not to be a credible witness; gave contradictory and evasive testimony
• Feigned ignorance/naivete about operation of IOLA accounts and liens
• Failed to produce records to account for client funds
• Brought clients' funds to Jamaica without their consent

Mitigating factors:

• Eventually paid over US$48,000 to attorney Alton Rose representing monies due in McFarlane's IOLA account