Lawyer gets nine-month suspension for breaching Legal Profession Act

The General Legal Council has suspended attorney-at-law Audley Melhado from practising law for nine months for breaching the Legal Profession Act.

The suspension is a downgrade in disciplinary action.

After hearing a complaint against the lawyer, the council, in 2011, imposed a lifetime ban.

However, Melhado challenged the order in the Court of Appeal which ruled last year that the General Legal Council should suspend the attorney rather than ban him from practising.

In a notice in yesterday’s edition of the Sunday Gleaner, the council said the suspension officially started on November 27, 2014.

Melhado is not entitled to practise as a lawyer in Jamaica nor is any member of the public allowed to employ him until the suspension period expires.

It is reported that he failed to file accountant's report for period 2002 to 2005 in keeping with the requirements of the Legal Profession Act.