Law Times

PAGE 2 NEWS January 24, 2011 • Law Times more than $1 million in missing funds more than a year after his disbarment by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Alec John Dobson is accused of 11 Disbarred lawyer facing 30 criminal charges A BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times former London, Ont.-area law- yer has been charged with 30 criminal offences relating to According to Const. Dennis Rivest, the fraud section at the London Police Service began investigating Dobson in the summer of 2008 "in regards to his professional business practices." He ran a legal practice in the village of Dorchester, Ont., about 20 kilometres east of London. Dobson had run into trouble with his counts of breach of trust; 11 counts of theft of entrusted monies over $5,000; and a further eight counts of uttering fal- sified documents. The 56-year-old was due to appear in court on Jan. 14, the same day police picked him up and charged him. None of the criminal allegations have been proven in court. law practice before. Around the same time, the law society suspended him on an in- terim interlocutory basis while it prepared for a hearing on his misconduct. More than a year later, on Nov. 24, 2009, the LSUC revoked Dobson's li- cence after a panel made 17 separate findings of misconduct against him re- lated to a number of mortgage transac- tions. It found he had removed money from the trust accounts of six sets of cli- ents and misled them by telling them he had used the funds to pay out mortgages when he had in fact used them for an- other purpose. One client, known only as S.D., con- tacted Dobson to ask why he was still paying interest on a line of credit. But according to the LSUC, Dobson hadn't actually paid off the line of credit as in- structed by S.D. Two more clients, J.P. and M.P., had the proceeds of their sale broken down in a reporting letter detailing payments to cover an existing mortgage, a real estate commission, and a bridge loan. None of the payments, however, had been made. According to the law society, Dob- son sent another set of clients, M.L. and L.L., a false copy of a cancelled cheque to back up his claim that he had paid out an existing mortgage. Later, he admitted to them that the mortgage hadn't been paid out but insisted a new bank draft had been issued to cover the amount. That was also false. The panel also found Dobson guilty of misconduct for failing to maintain proper books and records related to three of the trust accounts as well as misleading a law society investigator as- signed to the case. The LSUC ordered Dobson, who represented himself at the hearing, to pay $5,000 in costs to it. It also made him cover the $158,000 cost of grants made to complainants from its com- pensation fund. LT New Offi ce. New Partner. Siskinds Toronto: Class Actions and More. The partners of Siskinds LLP are pleased to welcome Doug Worndl to the partnership and to announce the opening of the fi rm's new offi ce in the historic T. Milburn Building on Toronto's Colborne Street. The lawyers at Siskinds Toronto include Doug Worndl who practiced litigation for more than 19 years at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP; and associates Daniel Bach (formerly of Shearman and Sterling in New York), and Anthony O'Brien (formerly of Stikeman Elliott in Toronto, and Arnold Bloch Leibler of Melbourne, Australia). In addition, London-based partner Dimitri Lascaris (formerly of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and Paris), who is the head of Siskinds' Securities Class Action Group, will attend at the Toronto offi ce on a regular basis. Sajjad Nematollahi (LL.B. Shahid Beheshti University, Faculty of Law, Tehran, Iran; LL.M. McGill University; LL.M. Harvard Law School) will work as a clerk to the Group as he awaits his accreditation in Ontario. Mr. Nematollahi will receive his Call to the Bar in New York in February. The lawyers at Siskinds Toronto are all part of Siskinds' Securities Class Action Group, which also includes London-based lawyers Charles Wright, co-author of Class Actions Law and Practice (Butterworths 1999), Michael Robb, formerly of the Toronto offi ce of Torys LLP, Stephanie Dickson, a graduate of McGill University's Faculty of Law, and Nicholas Baker who is of the Australia Bar, and currently articling with the fi rm. Doug Worndl will also continue his "conventional" commercial, aviation and products liability litigation practice. Siskinds has been the lead or co-lead counsel in well over 75% of securities class actions in Canada, and is Canada's leading counsel to investors and investor groups bringing suit pursuant to Part XXIII.1 of the Ontario Securities Act. For more information please contact: Dimitri Lascaris, London 519.660.7844 dimitri.lascaris@siskinds.com Doug Worndl, Toronto 416.362.8334 x224 doug.worndl@siskinds.com Toll Free 877.672.2121 Anthony O'Brien Dimitri Lascaris S I S K I N D S . C O M Untitled-3 1 www.lawtimesnews.com Daniel Bach Sajjad Nematollahi Doug Worndl L E A DERS IN THEIR FIELD ® 1/19/11 2:26:27 PM

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