10 strikes, not out - GLC defends role as attorney repeatedly found guilty of professional misconduct faces fresh scrutiny

Karel Donaldson wanted to have her name added to the title for a property that was already registered in her cousin’s name when she hired attorney-at-law Debby-Ann Samuels in 2017.

Both women agreed on a fee of $80,000 for the transaction, which the attorney indicated would be completed in approximately six months.

But up to 2024, when a complaint filed by Donaldson was heard by a disciplinary panel of the General Legal Council (GLC), her name had not been added to the title, though she paid Samuels a total of $183,300, the panel concluded when it found the attorney guilty of professional misconduct.

She was fined by the panel.

The GLC is the body that regulates the legal profession in Jamaica.

“Given the stated timeline of six months for the completion of the transaction, the period of approximately seven years is inordinate and inexcusable in the circumstances,” the three-member disciplinary panel wrote in its decision, which was delivered on September 26, 2024.

Seventeen months before that, Maria Silvera, a Jamaican residing in Canada, retained Samuels to probate the will of her late mother, Daphne Silvera, and facilitate the sale of three properties she left behind, GLC records show.

The properties are all located in Trelawny and have a combined value of $3 million, according to Silvera, who was the executrix of the will.

To facilitate the transactions, she said that by May 17, 2023, she paid Samuels a total of $160,000 and handed over several important documents, which included duplicate certificates of title and valuation reports for all three properties, a copy of her mother’s will, and the original death certificate.

Silvera indicated, too, that in June and November 2023, she signed forms authorising a realtor to list two of the properties for sale on the open market with the understanding that, as a prerequisite for the sale, Samuels would move quickly to obtain the grant of probate.

She claimed that by December that same year, offers for the properties started to come in and this was communicated to Samuels by the realtor.

However, Silvera complained that amid mounting pressure from elderly relatives who have a legal stake in the properties, Samuels provided no update on the probate applications since she got the documents in May 2023.

She travelled to Jamaica in January 2024 to try and get information from Samuels, but nothing changed, and that’s when she began to try and retrieve the documents, Silvera claimed.

“She suspected something was wrong and called the Titles Office, the Supreme Court and the Trelawny Parish Court and discovered that probate was not granted,” according to excerpts of her evidence before the GLC.

Eleven months after retaining Samuels, a frustrated Silvera, like Donaldson, took her grouse to the GLC.

Samuels was again found guilty of professional misconduct by another three-member panel of the GLC’s disciplinary committee following a hearing that ended on April 14 last year, records show.

The attorney admitted during the hearing that she was found guilty of professional misconduct nine previous times after initially claiming that she could not remember, a transcript of the case revealed.

Details of the other cases and the sanctions imposed were not available to The Sunday Gleaner last week.

It was during the hearing of the Silvera case that Samuels first indicated that Silvera’s documents were inside her car when it was stolen.

The panel of attorneys that heard Silvera’s complaint – Daniella Gentles-Silvera, King’s Counsel and chairman; Marjorie Shaw; and Jeffrey Daley – delivered a stinging rebuke of their colleague before imposing a six-month suspension, effective January 1 this year.

“A reprimand would not be sufficient and neither will a fine, as the public needs protection from attorneys like the respondent, who have repeatedly committed acts of professional misconduct for which she has been found guilty,” the panel wrote after a sanction hearing on December 12 last year.

“The attorney’s conduct, which involves inexcusable and deplorable negligence, including placing and leaving important documents belonging to a client, such as titles, in a motor vehicle … can only diminish the trust and confidence placed in the profession and serves to lower the reputation of the legal profession by members of the public,” it added.

Less than two weeks ago, Samuels was charged by the police Fraud Squad with one count of fraudulent conversion for allegedly failing to hand over $8.2 million she collected from the sale of a property to a client, officials have confirmed.

She was arrested on April 27 after a near two-hour standoff with cops in downtown Montego Bay, St James, and has since been offered a $4-million bail package with strict reporting conditions.

Her attorney Donnovan Collins previously told The Gleaner that he is “certain” that his client will be exonerated at trial.

“Based on my client’s instructions, she has not fraudulently converted any money for any client. But we await our day in court when the truth will come to light,” he said.

While making it clear that he was not speaking about any specific case, King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie, chairman of the GLC’s Disciplinary Committee, said he “respects” the view that after a “certain number of adverse findings”, consideration should be given to disbarring an attorney who has demonstrated “a pattern of unprofessional conduct”.

He noted, however, that this was not in the purview of the GLC because it would require changes to the law that governs the profession.

Further, Champagnie noted that not all adverse findings against an attorney are egregious. 

“Therefore, a number of factors would have to be taken into consideration before moving in this direction,” he suggested.

However, he defended the GLC’s track record of policing unprofessional conduct within its ranks, saying attorneys have expressed the view that the profession is “over-regulated” and that the GLC is “extreme” in its approach.

“What I will state without any fear of contradiction is that the regulatory framework of our disciplinary body remains the most effective and active body when compared to any other professional regulatory body in this country,” Champagnie told The Sunday Gleaner.

“I challenge anyone to say otherwise. We remain committed to ensuring fairness, transparency and [the maintenance of] confidence in the legal profession.”

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