Last Updated on March 8, 2020, 2:52 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The Antigua & Barbuda Bar Association has taken the recent order by St Kitts’ Resident Judge Eddy Ventose for two Kittitian lawyers to appear before a two-judge tribunal, seriously.
The Antigua Bar Council decided to circulate Claim No. SKBHCV 2017/0391 Tanzania Tanzil v Lindsay Grant et al (St Kitts) “to the general Bar for continued guidance on our duties as Attorneys-at-law and a consequence of a breach of that duty. Please, therefore be guided accordingly.”
Justice Ventose has ordered Hon Lindsay Grant, a Harvard-trained lawyer, Minister of Tourism and International Trade and Member of Parliament for St Christopher 4; and Jonel Powell, a UWI-trained barrister, chairman of the Peoples Action Movement (PAM) and candidate for St Christopher 2 (Central Basseterre) to appear before a two-judge panel which will determine whether they should be suspended from practice as lawyers or debarred after they were found liable for breach of trust, breach of fiduciary responsibility and misappropriation of US$460,000 in a default judgment.
In February 2019, the Barbados Nation reported that Attorney-at-law Joyce Griffith had been disbarred following a decision of the Court of Appeal which found her guilty of misappropriating the proceeds from a sale of property for a client.
In December 2019, it was informed that 22 attorneys-at-law were disbarred in Jamaica over the last six years.
According to the record obtained from the General Legal Council, GLC, the 22 disbarred lawyers accounted for nearly 34% of all the attorneys disqualified since the GLC, started publishing the data 41 years ago in 1978.
Besides, there have been 82 disciplinary proceedings over the same period.
Since Ronald McIntosh was disbarred on January 10, 1978, while 64 other attorneys have also suffered a similar fate.
Since Ronald McIntosh was disbarred on January 10, 1978, while 64 other attorneys have also suffered a similar fate.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
