Law Times

Page 4 September 3, 2018 • Law timeS www.lawtimesnews.com 'Uncivil' social media use alleged Lawyer in trouble with LSO for tweets BY ANITA BALAKRISHNAN Law Times O ttawa lawyer Char- lene Desrochers al- legedly breached Law Society of Ontario conduct rules in her 2016 and 2017 tweets about the Cornwall courts, according to a Law Soci- ety of Ontario affidavit. She also faces allegations of failing to co-operate with the Law Society's investigation and failure to pay dues, and her li- cence is temporarily suspended as of Aug. 16. Desrochers says her case is one of several recent cases that explore mental health concerns as a factor in the tribunal pro- ceedings. "I want people to know how the LSO abuses lawyers through the discipline process and that the discipline process makes lawyers sick both physically and mentally," says Desrochers, a Fulbright scholar of Indigenous descent. As of July 26, Desrochers had submitted nine notes from two medical providers, according to an affidavit from Anthony Gon- salves, a team manager at the en- forcement department of the law society. In the affidavit filed with the Law Society Tribunal's hearing division, the regulator says that between October 2016 and early January 2017, Desrochers made various "uncivil and discourte- ous tweets" on her publicly ac- cessible Twitter account, about "particular members of the Cornwall Judiciary and other levels of courts and/or the judges therein." The affidavit doesn't list par- ticular tweets, but Desrochers' tweets from that time period include comments such as, "A Cornwall lawyer told me about the Cornwall judges railroad- ing the other Indigenous lawyer by convicting his accused cli- ents," and "By attacking me via secret Law Society complaint, the Cornwall judges & Crown breached Black Accused's right to counsel & fair hearing," ac- cording to a search performed by Law Times in the last week of August on one of the two Twitter accounts associated with Desro- chers' name and photo. "Lawyers have a right to free- dom of speech just like every other Canadian, and . . . I have [the] right to defend human rights of Black and Indigenous people without retaliation by the LSO and the state," says Des- rochers. Desrochers submitted five notes from nurse practitioner Manon Bouchard, Desrocher's health-care provider since 2007, the affidavit said. The notes recommended leave from Law Society Tribunal matters as Des- rochers recovered from surgery. Gonsalves' affidavit also cited four medical notes from Doug- las Green, an Ottawa psychia- trist. In April, Green wrote that Desrochers was "incapable of participating" in the Law Soci- ety's disciplinary process, and in May he wrote that Desrochers was also not able to work as a lawyer, the affidavit says. Desrochers says her experi- ence with the law society and the law society tribunal has revealed deficiencies with the lawyer dis- ciplinary process in Ontario. For example, Desrochers said that it is much harder to recover costs from the law society than from other courts. Rule 25 of the Law Society Tribunal Rules provides that costs may only be awarded against the LSO where the law society caused costs to be in- curred without reasonable cause or to be wasted by undue delay, negligence or other default. Desrochers also said that she did not have enough time to prepare for her hearing on Aug. 16, which she was advised of on July 27, according to a document provided by the tribunal. Matthew Wilton of Matthew Wilton & Associates Barristers in Toronto acted on a 2017 Tri- bunal case, Law Society of Up- per Canada v. Cengarle 2017 ONLSTH 129, which dealt with when and how the law so- ciety must make disclosures to licensees in interim suspension motions. In that case, the tribu- nal said that the tribunal should generally hear interlocutory suspension motions within four weeks of filing. Desrochers says she is in dis- cussion with some other lawyers about launching a class action suit against the Law Society of Ontario benchers. Desrochers says the class action, which is in the preliminary stages and has not been brought as a statement of claim, would focus on the complaints process and tribu- nal. A tribunal spokeswoman declined to comment on Des- rochers' suggestion of a class action, which was initially an- nounced on Twitter. A law society spokesman says the society doesn't comment on active matters before the tribu- nal. "The only way to hold the benchers accountable for mis- governance of the whole LSO and to make change to the LSO is by doing a class action," Des- rochers says. "The abuse of pro- cess on my case is unreal and the public should be aware of how the legal discipline process is ad- ministered like an Indian Resi- dential School." Lawyer Daniel Naymark, principal at Naymark Law in To- ronto, says that, in general, it is still for the law tribunal to decide what degree of accommodation is appropriate for mental health issues, despite recent changes. Naymark, who is not involved in the case with Desrochers, worked on a case before the tri- bunal earlier this year, Law So- ciety of Ontario v. Burtt, 2018 ONLSTH 63, where the allega- tions of misconduct against a licensee were dismissed due to the law society's duty to accom- modate mental illness. "Where there is a tension in a lawyer's inability to respond to the law society or participate in tribunal processes and the law- yer's medical condition [poses] an actual risk to the public, I ex- pect you would see the law soci- ety coming down on the side of protecting the public," Naymark says. LT NEWS NEWS NEWS BUILD YOUR ARTICLING SKILLS WITH THE TORONTO LAWYERS ASSOCIATION TLA Membership for Articling Students is complimentary tlaonline.ca | info@tlaonline.ca 8th Annual Articling Students Head Start program: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed at Articles (that they didn't teach you in law school) WHEN Friday, September 21, 2018 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 14th Annual Articling Students and Maters' Motions WHEN Thursday, September 27, 2018 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Legal Writing for Students and New Lawyers: Writing Effective Memoranda of Law WHEN Wednesday, October 3, 2018 5:15 – 7 p.m. Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them for Licensing Candidates and Articling Principals WHEN Wednesday, November 14, 2018 5:15 – 7 p.m. followed by a Wine and Cheese Mixer until 8:00 p.m. Untitled-4 1 2018-08-28 1:11 PM

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