Lawrence L. Haynes

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

The Disciplinary Committee found attorney Lawrence Haynes guilty of professional misconduct for negligence under Canon IV(s). Although he verbally advised the complainant of appeal time limits and his lack of confidence in the appeal, he failed to put this in writing, failed to file a Notice of Appeal within the 42-day limit while still acting for the client, and later accepted the $75,000 appeal deposit after time had expired, depriving the complainant of his right to appeal. No dishonesty was found; the discrepancies in the complainant's evidence were attributed to age/recall, not deliberate misleading. The other three charges (unfair fees, failure to inform, failure to account) were not established. The Committee ordered restitution of $100,000 to the complainant and $20,000 costs to the General Legal Council.

Duties found breached:

• Disclose adverse law to the court

Aggravating factors:

• Attorney continued to accept the $75,000 appeal deposit after the time to appeal had expired
• Failed to put critical advice (time limits, lack of merit) in writing to a lay client
• Client lost his right to pursue an appeal and possibly the property

Mitigating factors:

• Complainant owed outstanding fees and delayed payment
• Other complaints (unfair fees, failure to provide information, failure to account) were not established