A Cayman Islands lawyer who sent inappropriate texts to a client is facing a possible police investigation and the prospect of being blackballed from the profession.
The Court of Appeal described Keith Myers’ actions as ‘indefensible’ and called for a police inquiry into the evidence he gave to the court.
The court also ordered that he be investigated for professional misconduct, meaning he could potentially be struck from the registered list of lawyers in Cayman and England and Wales.
The order was handed down on Thursday by appeals court president Sir John Goldring, as part of additional comments following a judgment earlier this week in which the unlawful wounding conviction of one of Myers’ clients was overturned.
The conviction was thrown out following the revelation of WhatsApp messages of a sexual nature sent by Myers to the woman who he was representing. His client – who had been found guilty of stabbing a co-worker in a fight at a beauty salon – claimed he failed to represent her properly after she spurned his advances.
In one of the messages, Myers told her he had hoped to see her (cat emoji) following a outing with her earlier that day.
When details of the messages first came to light, Myers, in a sworn affidavit, refuted the allegations as “filth” that was beneath him.
“Mr. Myers’ conduct was indefensible,” said Goldring. “The contents of his affidavit in the face of the WhatsApp messages [raise] very serious issues which require investigation by the police.”
He added, “We direct the director of public prosecutions to ensure that this matter is taken forward.”
Goldring also ordered that the respective registrars in Cayman, England and Wales, who keep a list of attorneys admitted to practise law, be informed of the contents of the judgment.
The implications of this would be that Myers, who has practised law in Cayman since 2002, could have his name struck off the list here as well as in England and Wales, thereby barring him from practising law in each jurisdiction.
In Cayman, Section 7 of the Legal Practitioners Act governs whether an attorney’s name may be removed from the list.
According to Section 7(1), “A judge shall have power, for reasonable cause shown, to suspend any attorney-at-law from practising as such during any specified period or to order the attorney-at-law’s name to be struck off the Court Roll.”
Section 7(2) provides the attorney with a chance to challenge the striking of their name from the roll, while section 7(3) provides a means to appeal the striking to the Court of Appeal.
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