Hope Marcia Ramsay-Stewart

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

An attorney was retained by overseas clients to purchase Jamaican property. When the transaction fell through, she was instructed to return a US$26,760 deposit. Fraudsters intercepted email communications and, using slightly altered email addresses, changed the wiring instructions; the attorney wired the funds to a fraudulent Bank of America account. The Committee found the attorney was NOT guilty of inexcusable/deplorable negligence (Canon IV(s)) nor of failing to act with due expedition (Canon IV(r)), given the novelty of the cyber threat in 2017. However, it found her guilty of failing to account for the client's money (Canon VII(b)(ii)) - explaining what happened does not satisfy the duty to hand over funds - and of failing to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession (Canon I(b)) by blaming the clients rather than seeking settlement. No dishonesty was found. Sanction was deferred pending mitigation submissions.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Attorney sought to blame the Complainants for the loss rather than negotiate a settlement
• Attorney denied all wrongdoing and refused to return the deposit

Mitigating factors:

• Loss of funds was due to cybercriminals/fraudsters, not the Attorney's dishonesty
• Attorney had virus/malware protection, private server and IT monitoring in place
• Cybercrime against law firms was a relatively new threat in 2017
• Attorney attempted to reverse the wire, filed a police report and pursued recovery through insurers