Law Times

www.lawtimesnews.com Page 2 January14, 2008 / Law Times NEWS 'I thought I was doing the right thing' concerns regarding his sitting on the case, they would have expressed them beforehand. Matlow also sat, since 2002, on five previous cases involving the city — four of which resulted in favourable rulings for the city — and his impartiality was never questioned. Matlow asserted his impar- tiality toward the SOS case: "I had no views about the merits of it . . . I didn't care at all what was going to happen." However, Matlow admitted that he has since reconsidered his decision to hear the case. "I'm persuaded . . . that I made errors in how I handled the SOS case," he said. First, he said he should not have given documents to the Globe and Mail relating to his criticism of the Thelma project — and specifically of the City of Toronto's legal department — on Oct. 5, a day before he began sitting on the two-day SOS case. "In retrospect, I wish I just cut off my contact with [Globe and Mail columnist] John Barber," Matlow said. He added that he could see how the "optics" of that act would lead someone to question his impartiality in the SOS case. Matlow told the committee that, as far as he was concerned, his fight over the Thelma project ended in February 2004. "I had as much as I could take in my lifetime," said Matlow. However, he said a report on the MFP computer-leasing scan- dal at the City of Toronto, released just before the SOS case began, prompted him to reignite his dis- cussions with Barber regarding the Thelma project. Matlow said he was "struck by the similarity" between the Thelma project and MFP. "It was exactly the same as what we encountered," he said. Matlow said he was unhappy only with the actions of city law- yers on the Thelma project, not with those of councillors, who he said are too busy and must rely on the advice of others. "I couldn't let the role of the two people in the legal depart- ment go," he said. Matlow said he now sees how it would have been best for him to have asked counsel, at the out- set of the SOS case, to make sub- missions on whether he was fit to sit on the panel. "In retrospect, I wish I didn't participate in SOS," Matlow said. Matlow said that at the time his opinion on whether he should sit on the SOS case was shaped by a belief that he could have problems with the city in which he lived — on issues as wide ranging as garbage pickup to development — without tainting his impartiality. He said he felt he was helping the city by uncovering the "problems" sur- rounding the Thelma project, and therefore was not in conflict with it. Matlow, a supernumerary who hasn't been sitting on cases since April 5, 2007, also told the com- mittee that he is "very proud to be a judge" and hopes to return to the bench. He apologized for any problems his actions have caused. Matlow said the ordeal has been very hard on his family, add- ing that his own health and dis- position has been affected. But he said, "It's also important for me to be true to my own conscience. . . . My motives were clean; I thought I was doing the right thing." However, it turned out to be "a colossal failure," he said. While acknowledging that his actions likely caused some dam- age to the public's perception of the administration of justice, Matlow said, "I hope if there are such people . . . that there are also people who will think more high- ly of the administration of justice and applaud what I've done." The committee will report its findings to the CJC, which will then decide whether to recom- mend to the federal minister of justice that Matlow be removed from the bench. A judge can only be removed from office following a joint resolution of Parliament. 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The law society tribunal ruled Hunter continued the relationship "without adequate disclosure of the circumstances that could make a conflict of interest likely." A.B.'s statement of claim al- leges Hunter made his admis- sions to her on Nov. 21, 2005, only 15 days before he resigned as law society treasurer, accord- ing to Wilton. Hunter said pub- licly at the time that he was step- ping aside because his marriage had broken down and he needed more time with his children. The claim alleges Hunter also disclosed to A.B. that the two women with whom he had been having concurrent sexual relations were employees at his own law firm, Borden Lad- ner Gervais LLP. One of the women, the claim alleges, had opened his e-mails while he was on vacation and consulted the other woman at Borden Ladner, prompting Hunter to confess to his wife about all three relation- ships. The developments, judg- ing from the law society ruling, prompted Hunter to hire his own counsel and vainly press AB, who had broken relations, to confirm he had done nothing wrong. "He telephoned and e-mailed the client on numerous occa- sions, in an attempt to have her confirm to his lawyer and law partners that the nature of their sexual/romantic relationship was as he described," the disci- plinary tribunal ruling says. It goes on to say that Hunter once "attended at the client's home" without notice, in his efforts to get her support. The statement of claim al- leges Hunter e-mailed and called AB on "numerous times", leaving voice mails and mes- sages, and that he showed up at her house at 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2005, and "banged on AB's door when she refused to answer. A.B. found this visit terrifying." As the national managing partner of Borden Ladner, Sean Weir, recalls to Law Times, that was the same day Hunter's re- lationship with AB "came to light" at the law firm. Hunter resigned as law soci- ety treasurer a week later, barely more than five months after being elected. The first news report of a law society investiga- tion into his actions appeared in September 2006. "We think bringing the firm in [the lawsuit] is without merit," says Weir. "We have in- dependent legal advice . . . and are satisfied that the firm will be found to have acted properly and professionally at all times, that the client received compe- tent and proper representation as it relates to the legal matter, and that there will be no liability at the firm." The statement of claim, al- leges that A.B. believed Hunter was not following her instruc- tions to resolve lingering cus- tody and child-access issues with her former husband, and that by February 2005 he was turning office meetings meant to discuss those issues into "ro- mantic or sexual interludes." The claim says that, due to the stress caused by the rela- tionship with Hunter, AB now requires therapy and medical attention, and was "obliged" to take AIDS tests after he dis- closed he had unprotected sex with her and the other women during the same time period. The Ottawa office of Borden Ladner Gervais includes promi- nent lawyers who have represent- ed a string of high-profile politi- cal actors. Partner Peter Doody represented Jean Chrétien dur- ing Justice John Gomery's inqui- ry into the federal sponsorship scandal, as did another partner, David Scott, the brother of the late former Ontario attorney general Ian Scott. Another partner, Guy Pratte, represented Jean Pel- letier, Chrétien's former chief of staff during the inquiry, and also represented former prime minister Brian Mul- roney during the recent Com- mons committee hearings into the Karlheinz Schreiber lob- bying affair. Hunter himself, a 30-year veteran of Borden Ladner Gervais, represented former public works deputy minister Ranald Quail at the Gomery inquiry. Former Lib- eral MP Gar Knutson is an as- sociate. But Wilton plays down the significance of including the prestigious firm in the lawsuit. "They're big cheeses, but that's fine," he tells Law Times. "Lawyers [take on] insurance companies every day that are bigger corporations than Bor- den Ladner Gervais — or banks or the federal government or the provincial government. What's determinative is usually the strength of the case rather than the size of the party that you sue." LT LT Continued from page 1 Continued from page 1 LT-Jan 14 08.indd 2 1/10/08 8:06:51 PM

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