Decision record
Michael A. Williams
Allegation / charges
Restitution Ordered, Fined | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered December 13, 2008. View PDF DECISION OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL COMPLAINT No. 242 OF 2005 IN THE MATTER OF A COMPLAINT BY MILLICENT PORTER AGAINST MICHAEL …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Mrs. Millicent Porter complained that attorney Michael Williams, who took over her matrimonial home case in 2001, failed to diligently pursue proceedings and failed to keep her informed. She paid him $19,960.00 of an agreed $25,000.00 fee but the matter went nowhere. Williams undertook before the Panel to repay her but never did. The Committee found breaches of Canons IV(r), IV(s) and VI(d), ordering restitution with 12% interest, two fines of $50,000.00 each, and costs of $25,000.00. No express finding of dishonesty was made.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Respondent's seniority as an attorney
- Failure to respond to the complaint or provide any explanation
- Repeated absence from hearings
- Failure to honour undertaking to repay complainant given in presence of the Panel
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_fine_amount=100000"]
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.
Documents
Source: https://www.generallegalcouncil.org/judgement/michael-a-williams-complaint-no-242-of-2005/