Raphael Bishop

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

The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council found attorney Raphael Bishop guilty of professional misconduct for failing to complete the sale of a deceased client's Jamaican property, failing to provide information to the executors, and failing to account for monies received. Applying the criminal standard of proof, the Committee found breaches of Canons IV(r), IV(s) and VII(ii)(b) and s.12(1) of the Legal Profession Act. The Committee expressly found that Bishop knew he was falsifying the Agreement for Sale by altering its date, describing it as reprehensible and dishonourable conduct and a deliberate act to defraud the government of revenue and a deliberate misrepresentation (though he was not specifically charged with these). It rejected his claimed concern about the consideration being a 'mistake' as a contrivance. He was ordered to pay a J$150,000 fine to the complainants, costs on the prescribed scale, and 18% interest on J$41,706 from March 1993 to March 1995.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• No conflict between current clients
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Safeguard documents and limit liens
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Falsifying/altering the date on the Agreement for Sale (found to be reprehensible and dishonourable, a deliberate act to defraud government of revenue)
• Deliberate misrepresentation as vendor had already died when new date affixed
• Inordinate and inexcusable delay in completing the transaction
• Failure to communicate with client's English solicitors despite persistent attempts to contact him
• Contrived explanation (alleged 'mistake' in consideration) rejected as fabricated

Mitigating factors:

• No defalcation - no client money misappropriated
• Deposit funds ultimately returned to purchaser's attorney
• Respondent received no personal financial gain