Court clears lawyer Isat Buchanan of misconduct, says GLC disciplinary committee breached natural justice

The Court of Appeal has overturned a finding of professional misconduct against attorney-at-law and Portland Eastern Member of Parliament Isat Buchanan, which arose from comments he made about former Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn in 2020. 

In a ruling this morning, the said the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council "acted unfairly and in breach of natural justice" in dealing with certain aspects of the case, and erred in law when it found him guilty of conduct unbecoming his profession.

The unanimous judgment allowed Buchanan's appeal in full, setting aside both the October 1, 2022 misconduct finding and all sanctions imposed by the committee on October 22, 2022. 

The GLC, which regulates the legal profession in Jamaica, was ordered to pay Buchanan’s legal fees.

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

This case is separate from another GLC-related matter involving comments Buchanan made about the DPP in 2023 and for which he was sanctioned. He pleaded guilty but has appealed the two-year suspension sentence, which was put on hold by the Court of Appeal in December 2023. 

The matter that was ruled on today arose from a November 2020 interview Buchanan gave to Loop News, a now defunct online news website, while representing dancehall artiste Adidjah ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer in a Privy Council appeal against his murder conviction. 

In the interview, Buchanan was quoted describing the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as being "very dodgy and shady, and very deliberate in their action to continue to violate the constitutional rights of Adidja Palmer," amid a prolonged dispute over access to a mobile phone exhibit central to the defence team's case.

Then-DPP Paula Llewelyn filed a complaint with the committee in February 2021. 

In its decision in October 2022, the GLC’s disciplinary committee found Buchanan guilty of breaching Canon I(b) of the Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules, which requires attorneys to "at all times maintain the honour and dignity of the profession". The sanction was a reprimand. 

Buchanan filed the appeal in November 2022. Arguments were heard in May 2024. 

The appeal court ruled against the disciplinary committee on two grounds.

On the first, the court held that the committee had violated the principles of natural justice by establishing its misconduct finding on the sub judice rule, which restricts public comment on matters before the court, without giving Buchanan adequate notice that this was the case he was required to meet. 

Justice Williams found that the sub judice issue had never been pleaded in the complainant's affidavits, and that the committee's decision to rely upon it without proper notice was procedurally fatal.

"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 on the 47-page opinion. 

On the second successful ground of appeal, the court found that even if notice had been properly given, the committee had erred in law in its application of the sub judice rule. 

The court held that the rule is primarily concerned with preventing publications that pose a real risk of prejudicing fair proceedings, a question the committee had not properly addressed. 

According to the appellate judges, the committee had instead formulated its own novel test, and had already determined that Buchanan's criticism of the DPP was made in good faith, had a factual foundation, and was reasonable.

The court said the committee could not then turn to the same words and find a breach on the basis of the timing of their utterance alone.

The court declined the committee's invitation to remit the matter for rehearing, accepting Buchanan's submission that to do so would permit the committee a second opportunity to cure a fundamental procedural deficiency. That would amount to, in the words of his lawyer, John Clarke, giving it "a second bite of the cherry."

The GLC ‘s disciplinary committee was represented by Maurice Manning KC and Allyandra Thompson, instructed by Nunes Scholefield Deleon & Co.

Buchanan was elected to represent Portland Eastern on a People's National Party ticket in September 2025.

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