Isat Buchanan to appeal two-year suspension handed down by GLC

By Halshane Burke   

 

Attorney-at-law Valerie Neita-Robertson has indicated that an appeal is pending in the Isat Buchanan case.

 

Mr. Buchanan was handed a two-year suspension by the disciplinary panel of the General Legal Council after pleading guilty to breaching the canons of professional ethics.

 

Mrs. Neita-Robertson, who represents Mr. Buchanan, believes the two-year suspension is excessive. 

 

"They haven't said how they came by the two years, which is going to be a ground of appeal. But I thought six months, eight months would have been appropriate having regard to all of the things that he did before the matter reached the GLC. 

 

"Had he tried to justify what he did, one could have seen the need to teach him a lesson, but clearly, he has indicated that he has learned his lesson, and...it's not like he has made it up or it's not genuine; he did all of this before the matter went to the GLC. He didn't have to be prompted to do it, he did it on his own. We hope to file very quickly and to go before the court," she said. 

 

Mrs. Neita-Robertson said she will be requesting a stay of the decision of the General Legal Council while the appeal is pending.

 

She was speaking Thursday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines.