E.H. Williams

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

Carlene Peters complained against attorney Ericson H. Williams, who had acted for her in criminal matters and in the sale of jointly-owned property. The attorney received a $550,000 deposit from purchaser Clive Service in January 1999, with authority to use funds to make restitution in the client's false-pretences case. The attorney failed to appear in court on the scheduled restitution dates, causing the client to be remanded in custody for five days, only paying the funds on 27 August 2002. She then withdrew from representation, refusing to return the duplicate certificate of title or account for/refund the balance of the deposit (about $281,500). The panel, applying the criminal standard of proof, found her guilty of professional misconduct under Canons IV(o), VII(b)(ii) and IV(s) (and conduct discrediting the profession under Canon I(b)). No express finding of dishonesty was made. She was struck off, ordered to pay restitution of $281,500 plus 12% interest, and costs of $50,000. Two of the five original charges were dismissed as unproven.

Duties found breached:

• Overriding duty to the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Client deprived of liberty for five days due to attorney's failures to appear and bring funds to court
• Severe prejudice to client: forced to find full $550,000 plus interest for the Administrator General because no accounting given
• Failure to return duplicate certificate of title preventing completion of subsequent sale
• No response to oral or written requests for accounting from September 2002
• Failure to provide AGD any information on the deposit
• Did not appear at the disciplinary hearing nor provide any explanation