Decision record
Howard A. Lettman
Allegation / charges
Guilty of Professional Misconduct | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered November 23, 2019. || Struck off, Restitution ordered | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered January 25, 2020 View PDF DECISION OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL COMPLAINT NO: …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council found Attorney Howard Lettman guilty of professional misconduct on a complaint by Edward Green. The Attorney was retained for property sale transactions and civil matters, collected substantial sums (including balance sale proceeds), but failed to stamp a sale agreement, failed to procure splinter titles, failed to advance either sale transaction, failed to return original documents (including the Duplicate Certificate of Title), and failed to account for monies held (approx. JMD 1,083,510 due to the complainant). The Attorney did not attend any hearings or file a response. Applying the criminal standard of proof, the panel accepted the complainant's evidence in its entirety and found breaches of Canons 1(b) and 4. No express finding of dishonesty was made. Sanction was deferred to allow the Attorney to address the panel per Owen Clunie v GLC.
Duties found breached:
- Avoid wasting the court's time
- No taking unfair advantage
- Keep client informed and respond promptly
- No improper use of client money
Aggravating factors:
- Inordinate delay in addressing matters for which retained
- Failed to return original documents including Duplicate Certificate of Title
- Unresponsive to complainant's repeated appeals (over 50 visits and 130 calls)
- Complainant suffered loss and expense, having to retain counsel to complete work
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
- 116 of 2015
- 57 of 2008
- 212 of 2017
- 215 of 2017
- 215 of 2017
- 16 of 2016
- 212 of 2017
- 16 of 2016
- 124 of 2015
- 7 of 2017
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.
Documents
Source: https://www.generallegalcouncil.org/judgement/howard-a-lettman-complaint-no-57-of-2008/