Lorraine Louise Ramson

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

The Disciplinary Committee found Attorney Lorraine Ramson guilty of professional misconduct (proven beyond reasonable doubt) on a complaint by Lydia Facey. The Attorney was retained around July 2011 to handle the purchase of unregistered land and to bring it under the Registration of Titles Act so the Complainant could obtain NHT mortgage financing. Although the Attorney commenced the registration application in August 2011, she had not completed it over eight years later. The vendor died intestate in 2017 before the sale or title registration was completed, leaving the Complainant unable to enforce the agreement against the vendor's heirs. The panel found inordinate and inexcusable delay and failure to keep the Complainant informed, breaching Canon IV(r). The matter was heard in the Attorney's absence under Rule 8. No sanction is stated in the provided text.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Inordinate and inexcusable delay of over seven years
• Complainant negatively affected as vendor died intestate before completion, jeopardizing her ability to acquire the land
• Attorney did not repay monies received
• Repeated failure to respond to Complainant's enquiries