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We hear complaints about misconduct by attorneys all the time - mainly lawyers taking peoples money to make court appearances or filings - but then they ghost their clients, take their money and never deliver.
Well, it happened to JINYUE YOUNG and he made a complaint about attorney Bryan Neal to the General Legal Council - which is tasked by law to hear such matters.
That body today published a decision on the Bar Association website and here's what it says.
The panel of attorneys led by a High Court Justice found that Young paid Neal five thousand dollars to act on his behalf to deal with a tenant who owed rent.
But when Young sought updates on the progress of the work from Mr. Neal via email, no reply was forthcoming.
For his part, Neal told the council that he wished to terminate the retainer and return the funds to Mr. Young as early as April 2023.
The council found that emails went unanswered and that, quote, "neither correspondence from Mr. Neal suggests that Mr. Neal indicated that he would not deal with the matter for Mr. Young, and or that he was prepared to and wanted to refund Mr. Young's money….The Council also accepts that Mr. Neal attempted to make amends after the complaint was filed and served on him" end quote. As such, the Council, is left with the suggestion that Mr. Neal's ability to freely communicate with Mr. Young after the service of the complaint upon him meant that Mr. Neal had the ability to, but simply failed and neglected to, communicate with Mr. Young between April and December 2023.
It concludes that "the Council is satisfied that the allegations made against Mr. Neal have been established and that Mr. Neal's conduct amounts to professional misconduct."
Neal is required to be present before the General Legal Council on March 22nd to show cause why any of the sanctions set out in section 16(2) of the Legal Profession Act should not be imposed upon him.
