Kenneth M. Mcleod

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

Attorney Kenneth McLeod received a deposit of J$1,065,000.00 in connection with a property sale that did not proceed. Despite numerous written demands from the complainant's attorneys between May 1998 and February 1999, and a complaint to the General Legal Council in August 1998, McLeod failed to account for or return the money until May 1999, after police (Fraud Squad) intervention. Repayment was made by several cheques drawn on three banks and multiple accounts, leading the Committee to infer he had intermeddled with the funds and did not have them when demanded. The Committee rejected his defence of honest belief that the purchaser still wished to buy. He was found guilty of misconduct contrary to Canons I(b) and VIII(d). The Committee did not make an express finding of dishonesty, but ordered him struck off the roll and to pay costs of $25,000.00.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Attorney remained unrepentant and persisted with an unreasonable explanation
• No contract actually existed
• Delay in repayment exceeded 12 months
• A complaint was laid to no avail
• Repayment only occurred after police were contacted following warnings
• Repayment made by several cheques over many days from three banks; interest only repaid over several years
• Inference that he had intermeddled with the funds
• Prevalence of intermeddling/fraud by attorneys harming public confidence

Mitigating factors:

• The principal was eventually repaid
• Interest on the principal was eventually also paid