KINGSTON, Jamaica — The disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council (GLC) has struck Gregory Lopez from the Roll of Attorneys-at law entitled to practice in the several courts of Jamaica.

Lopez, according to a newspaper notice published today, practises from offices on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston.

The GLC said he was removed from the roll on March 25 for misappropriation of funds and is therefore not entitled to practise as an attorney-at-law in Jamaica nor can he be employed in that capacity.

The decision to strike Lopez off the roll was made after the committee reportedly heard evidence in a complaint brought by a client who was represented by Lopez in the sale of property for a price of $1,650,000.

GLC outlined it its notice that the sale was completed in January 2014, at which time the balance owing to the complainant was $1,504,000.

Lopez, according to the GLC, misappropriated the complainant’s money, which ought to have been paid over to him.

The committee said it heard that the attorney made repeated promise to the complainant to pay over the said sums being the proceeds of the sale of the property to him but failed to do so.

At the time when the complaint was lodged, the net proceeds of sale outstanding and owed by the attorney to the complainant was $654,000.

The disciplinary committee said it found that Lopez has breached the Canon 1(b) and Canon VI(b) of the legal profession (Canon of Professional Ethics) rules.

The GLC used the opportunity to remind attorneys of section 20(1) of the Legal Profession Act, which reads as follows: “No attorney shall, in connection with his practice as a lawyer, without the written permission of the Council, which may be given for such period and subject to such conditions as the Council thinks fit, employ or remunerate any person who to his knowledge is disqualified from practising as a lawyer by reason of the fact that his name has been struck off the Roll, otherwise that at his own request, or that he is suspended from practising as a lawyer.”