Court of Appeal Quashes GLC Misconduct Finding Against Isat Buchanan

The Court of Appeal has cancelled a professional misconduct ruling made against attorney-at-law and Portland Eastern Member of Parliament Isat Buchanan over remarks he made in 2020 about the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The complaint had been brought by then Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn.

In its decision delivered on Friday, the appellate court found that the General Legal Council's Disciplinary Committee dealt with parts of the matter in a way that was unfair and contrary to natural justice. The court also concluded that the committee made an error in law when it determined that Buchanan had behaved in a manner unworthy of his profession.

The three judges were unanimous in allowing Buchanan's appeal in its entirety. Their ruling erased the misconduct finding made on October 1, 2022, as well as the penalties imposed by the committee on October 22, 2022.

The General Legal Council, the body responsible for regulating lawyers in Jamaica, was also directed to cover Buchanan's legal costs.

The appeal was considered last November by Justices Paulette Williams, Marcia Dunbar Green and Evan Brown.

The case decided on Friday is not the same as another matter before the GLC arising from comments Buchanan made about the DPP in 2023, for which he was sanctioned. In that separate case, he pleaded guilty but challenged the two-year suspension imposed on him, and the Court of Appeal stayed that penalty in December 2023.

The matter now resolved began with a November 2020 interview Buchanan gave to Loop News, an online outlet that has since closed. At the time, he was representing dancehall artiste Adidjah 'Vybz Kartel' Palmer in a Privy Council appeal connected to Palmer's murder conviction.

During that interview, Buchanan was quoted as saying the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was "very dodgy and shady, and very deliberate in their action to continue to violate the constitutional rights of Adidja Palmer." The comment was made against the background of a long-running dispute over access to a mobile phone exhibit that was important to the defence team's case.

Llewellyn, who was then DPP, lodged her complaint with the disciplinary committee in February 2021.

When the committee handed down its ruling in October 2022, it found that Buchanan had breached Canon I(b) of the Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules. That provision requires attorneys to "at all times maintain the honour and dignity of the profession". The penalty imposed was a reprimand.

Buchanan challenged the ruling in November 2022, and the appeal arguments were presented in May 2024.

The Court of Appeal agreed with Buchanan on two grounds.

On the first issue, the court said the disciplinary committee breached natural justice when it based its decision on the sub judice rule, which limits public discussion of matters already before the courts, without properly notifying Buchanan that he had to answer that allegation.

Justice Williams said the affidavits filed by the complainant had not raised the sub judice point. She found that the committee's reliance on that issue without giving adequate notice was a serious procedural flaw.

"The committee acted unfairly and in breach of natural justice when it proceeded to consider the sub judice rule in circumstances where the appellant had received no proper prior notice that it would form part of the charges he would have to meet," Justice Williams wrote in the 47-page judgment.

On the second successful argument, the appellate court held that even if Buchanan had been properly notified, the committee still misapplied the sub judice rule.

The judges said that rule is mainly intended to prevent publications that create a real risk of affecting the fairness of court proceedings. They found that the committee had not properly examined that question.

Instead, the Court of Appeal said, the disciplinary committee created a new test of its own. The appellate judges also noted that the committee had already accepted that Buchanan's criticism of the DPP was made in good faith, rested on a factual basis, and was reasonable.

Having reached those findings, the court said, the committee could not use the timing of the same remarks alone to find that Buchanan had committed misconduct.

The appellate court refused the committee's request to send the matter back for another hearing. It accepted Buchanan's position that doing so would give the committee another chance to repair a basic procedural defect. His attorney, John Clarke, described that as giving the committee "a second bite of the cherry."

The disciplinary committee of the GLC was represented by Maurice Manning KC and Allyandra Thompson, who were instructed by Nunes Scholefield Deleon & Co.

Buchanan was elected in September 2025 as the People's National Party representative for Portland Eastern.