Steven George Powell

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

The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council found Attorney Steven Powell guilty of professional misconduct arising from his handling of the Complainant's Supreme Court matter. Although he successfully defended the claim against her, he failed to advise her on the efficacy of filing a Counterclaim, failed to inform her of the limitation period (allowing her potential claim from 2014 to become statute-barred in 2020), and failed to record any instructions declining to file a Counterclaim. Several charges (unfair fees, failure to account, breach of professional undertaking, conflict of interest) were dismissed at the no-case stage. The Panel found breaches of Canons iv(r), iv(s), and 1(b). No express finding of dishonesty was made. A separate sanction hearing was to be set.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Client was not learned in law and relied on the Attorney for help
• All information needed to ground a Counterclaim was in his possession since 2016
• Failed to advise on limitation period, allowing the claim to become statute-barred

Mitigating factors:

• Continued representing the Complainant in Court despite unpaid fees