Michael A. Williams

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

The Attorney Michael Williams acted for the Complainant in the purchase of property at 10A Wild Street, Kingston, and collected the full purchase price of $60,000 plus an additional $2,500. He paid $30,000 to the vendor and retained $30,000, but failed without explanation to complete the transaction after more than 9 years. The Panel found breaches of Canons IV(r), IV(s) and I(b), citing inexcusable neglect, failure to account, and conduct discrediting the profession. The Attorney did not respond to or appear in the proceedings. He was suspended for 3 months and ordered to pay restitution of $62,500 with 12% interest and costs of $10,000. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Overriding duty to the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Complete disregard for the proceedings and failure to respond to the complaint
• Unreasonable period of delay (over 9 years) in completing the transaction
• Failure to account for money entrusted to him