‘I am a fan of the
Isat Buchanan, a prominent attorney-at-law, was on a path into the music industry before law came into the picture. Steadfast and invested in building a music career, he even pushed back at the predictions of an African spiritualist, who told him at age 31 that he would become a lawyer. In retrospect, he is amazed by how life unfolded.
“I would say life and destiny has set me on the course to practising law. I was told by a Baba, an African spiritualist, that I was going to be a lawyer. At the time he told me that, believe me, I was focused on music and really thought the man was a fraud for telling me this,” Buchanan told THE STAR.
But two years later, life catapulted him down the roads of the justice system.
“While I was always a bright student and doing well at university, I found myself locked up in federal prison, labelled just another Negro in the system. So my ambitions to be a lawyer changed with my reality at the time.”
Buchanan has been retained by entertainer Vybz Kartel to get the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council to overturn his murder conviction and life sentence.
“I am a fan of the Teacher so working on the appeal, previously on team Shawn ‘Storm’ Campbellled by Bert Samuels, brought me to his attention. All the attorneys previously did a lot of work and this case has brought the entire justice system into uncharted waters,” he told THE STAR.
“Kartel is a very intelligent man. He is a national treasure and dancehall’s lifeline, so when I heard that he wanted me to represent him along with QC David Hislop from the UK, I could never say no.”
HOT LAWYER
But even before the Kartel case, the name Buchanan was already ringing bells. He quickly became the ‘hot lawyer’ on the block. He is the lawyer representing Jodian Fearon’s family and the man engaged by Stand Up For Jamaica to secure the release of men who have been locked up because they are mentally unfit to stand trial.
“The only people who tease me about doing big things are my criminal law students at The University of the West Indies. Jamaica hot, so every lawyer hot.