G.L.C. Fines O.J Elrington and Orders Him to Pay Pastor Dozie

Attorney Orson “O.J.” Elrington has been fined by the General Legal Council to the tune of fifteen thousand dollars after findings of grave professional misconduct.  The G.L.C. determined that he breached three rules of the Legal Profession (Code of Conduct) Rules.  The decision follows a complaint against Elrington that was filed by a former client.  In May, 2022, Pastor Dozie retained Elrington to institute a constitutional claim against the Social Security Board to challenge certain provisions of the Social Security Act which deals with the recovery of widower’s pension under its provisions, which were alleged to be discriminatory.  After the filing of the claim, settlement discussions between Elrington and S.S.B. resulted in the filing of a Consent Order in September 2023.  Pastor Dozie later complained that Elrington entered into the consent order without his approval and that Elrington was,(quote), derelict in his duty in not securing the approval of Pastor Dozie as to the terms of the consent order, (end quote).  The G.L.C., in its decision, also ordered that Elrington pays Pastor Dozie a sum of forty-six thousand, five hundred and eighty-eight dollars by July nineteenth.  Earlier today, we spoke with attorney Elrington.

 

Orson “O.J” Elrington, Attorney-at-law

“The GLC, I respect their decision and the decision has already been adhered to.  It’s already been paid.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“What do you take away from this entire ordeal, in the sense that you had a client, the business relationship between yourself, as a council, and your client, at some point, went sideways, for want of a better description, and you were brought before this particular body?”

 

Orson Elrington

“Well, of course the historical context of that is very important because, again, this is one of the many matters which I have taken on essentially pro bono on behalf of people.  This was one of them and so oddly enough, it is in trying to assist others that we are in this position right now.  Mr. Dozie contacted us, he had applied for a benefit from social security which was refused.  He got zero dollars.  On that challenge, I advised that he could bring a constitutional claim to challenge the legislation itself, the constitutionality of the legislation.  Of course, you would know [that] it is rare in Belize’s history that you challenge the legislation itself and we were successful in convincing the officials and the government that it made no sense to proceed to further litigation because we were already in litigation and the point was that it was unconstitutional and we came to a settlement. But what is of importance here is that Mr. Dozie went from zero dollars to almost fifty thousand dollars.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“So while you were successful at arriving at a landmark decision it is marred by the fact that you have been brought before the General Legal Council for misconduct.  That’s bittersweet for anybody who would say, “Look, I have litigated for something that is groundbreaking on one hand, but on the other hand, I am being dragged before a body to review my conduct.”

 

Orson Elrington

“And I would double it, to say that it was a pro bono matter.  It was essentially a pro bono matter which was based on contingency. We have accepted the fine, it’s a significant fine, but the damage to my legal reputation is far more reaching than that and so it makes us have to question every single matter that we take on pro bono, every matter that we take on on contingency and therefore have to be even more stringent.”