THE Court of Appeal has overturned the one-year suspension of prominent Kingston Attorney Oswald James that was imposed by the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council (GLC) last year.

The GLC’s decision was overturned this week, two months after the court reserved judgement following hearings in July.

James was last February suspended from practicing law in Jamaica for 12 months but in July of 2010 obtained a stay of the GLC’s decision pending the outcome of his appeal of the matter.

The attorney’s suspension follows a 2003 complaint from client Ralph Douglas, who alleged that James misled him, resulting in him losing out on a $2.5 million order made by the Supreme Court in relation to a dispute over a parcel of land at the Portmore Town Centre in St Catherine.

Douglas also alleged that James knowingly made a false statement of fact to him.

James, he claimed, knowingly assisted Paul Afflick (the other party in the land dispute that was before the Supreme Court) to break the law and facilitated Afflick’s disobedience of the court order by providing inaccurate information concerning the net proceeds from the sale of the Portmore land.

But James, who was represented by attorney Brian Barnes, appealed the decision, outlining to the court that the council did not take into consideration certain evidence that would have resulted in his vindication.