Decision record
Barbara Ledgister
Appeals and appellate references
- Appellate document — relationship to this matter unverified: Ivey v. Genting Casinos [2017]
“Unverified” means the upstream page linked an appellate judgment but did not preserve enough context to prove that it was an appeal in this matter.
Allegation / charges
Guilty of Professional Misconduct | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered June 16, 2020 | Suspended | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered December 06, 2023. View PDF DECISION OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL COMPLAINT NO: 111/2019 IN THE …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Disciplinary Committee found that Mrs. Barbara Ledgister, attorney for the purchaser, gave a professional undertaking dated February 2, 2018 to pay approximately J$18,077,380 / £112,983.63 in exchange for the duplicate certificate of title, received the endorsed title, but failed to honour the undertaking. She claimed the funds had been given to a Pastor Everton Brown who scammed her while she was under spiritual manipulation and suffering health issues. The Panel rejected exceptional-circumstances excuse, applied Ivey v Genting, and found she knew the funds were not hers to give, expressly finding her conduct dishonest. She was found guilty of breaching Canons VI(d), VI(e) and I(b). Sanction was deferred to allow a plea in mitigation.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Attorney since 1984, aware funds were not hers to give to a third party
- Parted with client's funds intended to complete the transaction
- Breach of an irrevocable professional undertaking
Mitigating factors:
- Genuine remorse expressed
- No prior issues in past dealings with the Complainant
- Claimed manipulation/scam by a third party (Pastor Brown)
- Health issues including moderate clinical depression
- Strong character evidence from four witnesses and reference letters
- Eventually made good by satisfying the outstanding balance plus interest to the purchaser
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/barbara-ledgister-complaint-no-111-of-2019/