W. Anthony Pearson
Allegation / charges
Fined | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered June 04, 2021. || Guilty of Misconduct in a Professional Respect | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered April 24, 2021. View PDF FORMAL ORDER OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL COMPLAINT …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Attorney Anthony Pearson, acting as Executor of an estate and for his brother-in-law (the vendor) with carriage of sale, was found guilty of professional misconduct under s.12(1)(a) of the Legal Profession Act. After a Consent Order granted specific performance and the Complainant paid the balance purchase price, the Respondent handed the cheque to his brother-in-law but failed to transfer title to the Complainant and failed to account for the title in his possession. The Committee found breaches of Canon IV(s) and Canon I(b), and imposed a fine and costs. No express finding of dishonesty was made.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Respondent is a senior attorney who should have been aware of the steps required before parting with possession of the title
Mitigating factors:
- Attorney acted in the transaction on behalf of an in-law (brother-in-law) and the relationship had broken down