Law Times

PAGE 10 FOCUS May 16, 2011 • Law TiMes DO YOU KNOW WHEN BREATHALYZER CERTIFICATES ARE ADMISSIBLE IN COURT? NEW PUBLICATION A GUIDE TO BREATHALYZER CERTIFICATES IN CANADA ALAN PEARSE Gain a better understanding of the admissibility of a Breathalyzer Certificate as evidence and when it can be used to prove a .08 blood alcohol charge in impaired driving cases. This is the only resource that provides you with a comparison of pre and post 2008 Criminal Code amendments side-by-side and analyzes the "Carter" defence and where it can be applied. THIS PRACTICAL GUIDE IS EXTREMELY USEFUL FOR ALL PARTIES INVOLVED: • Crowns can use this practical, in-depth guide to help prepare for the trial • Defence can rely on this guide to advise clients, prepare for trials and use as a reference in court. It will point out where the motorists' Charter of Rights and Freedoms may have been violated when obtaining the certificate. • Judges will find it useful for helping decide technical issues involved in breathalyzer certificates. SAVE TIME WITH MANY HELPFUL FEATURES, INCLUDING MORE THAN 500 CASES This guide is easy-to-use and is organized in the same way an impaired driving investigation unfolds. Each chapter is divided into several sections to help you get the information you need fast. Fake Ontario firm created in new fraud BY ROBERT TODD Law Times of fraudsters targeting legal professionals across North America come to light. PracticePRO director L Dan Pinnington explains that LawPRO has seen a drastic spike in what are described as collabora- tive agreement frauds. He says Ontario lawyers are among thousands of professionals across North America targeted in recent months. Th e fraudsters have success- fully fooled many of them. Accountants and real estate agents are also dealing with the issue. It can be diffi cult, however, for lawyers to identify the scams. Th ey appear to revolve around genuine legal matters but attempt to hoodwink lawyers into disbursing funds on a bad cheque, bank draft or U.S. cashier's cheque that has been deposited in a trust account. What makes the scams all the more diffi cult to detect is the sophistication with which the fraudsters carry them out. Th ose orchestrating the scam will respond to phone calls and e-mails; sign, although fail to pay, retainer agreements; and off er up proof of their identity and legal documents supporting their claims. Pinnington notes the counterfeit doc- uments, including highly sophisticated cheques, have fooled even bank staff ers. "What it does is create circumstances where you can present somebody with a bad cheque and they can send you good money," he says, noting there are at least two claim fi les that LawPRO is handling in which the lawyer was duped during the last six months. Pinnington advises lawyers to protect ORDER # 804521-69015 $99 1 volume looseleaf 1 supplement per year 978-0-88804-521-8 Supplements invoiced separately themselves by proceeding with caution on all transactions. Be sure to check the client's identifi cation, and if there's any- thing at all that appears illegitimate or questionable on the transactions, ask questions and dig deeper. "If the facts and circumstances seem a bit unusual, make sure you get an expla- nation that satisfi es you that everything is 100 per cent normal," says Pinnington. By far the most common of this breed AVAILABLE RISK-FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order online at www.canadalawbook.ca Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. of scams is in relation to spousal support claims, according to Pinnington. Real estate purchases are the second most fre- quently targeted transactions. Th e most recent wrinkle on the real estate purchase scam appears to have taken hold. It in- volves a web site of a fake Ontario law fi rm named Wagner Elliot LLP, which is used as the source of the funds. Th at scam generally entails contact by a new client who claims to live in another country and requests representation on a conveyance. awyers continue to receive warn- ings to keep their guards up for bad cheque scams as new reports Th e client will have used a B.C. real- tor to make a purchase off er on a resi- dential property. Th e realtor will send the targeted lawyer a signed contract of purchase and sale. Th e client will then say the Toronto- based Wagner Elliot lawyer will pass along the funds to the targeted lawyer, who will receive a convincing yet fraudulent instrument for deposit into the trust account. Shortly after the funds are deposited in trust, the client will call back requesting a return of them. "Th ese have evolved Scams 'have evolved and are get- ting far more sophisticated,' says Dan Pinnington. and are getting far more sophisticated," says Pin- nington. "We've gone from badly worded, bad-grammar e-mail blasts that were blind cc'd to hundreds of thousands of people to in some cases e-mails or phone calls addressed to individual lawyers with specifi c facts alleged that tie the matter to the jurisdiction." If lawyers have gone through all of the steps of due diligence and still aren't satisfi ed that a client's intentions are legitimate, Pinnington urges them to contact PracticePRO and report the situation. Staff there have typically seen the same fraud multiple times and there- fore should be able to identify whether a similar attempt has taken place. Lawyers should also check Practi- cePRO's blog, avoidaclaim.com, where Pinnington posts examples of fraudulent cheques and details of recent scams. "You can call the police," he says. "Unfortunately, the police seem, due to lack of resources, not very interested in pursuing these." Barbara Buchanan, practice adviser for ethics and conduct at the Law So- ciety of British Columbia, stresses the importance for lawyers to abide by their client identifi cation and verifi cation rules. Th at includes the requirement to meet a client in person if the matter in- volves a fi nancial transaction. "So if the client is in Japan, the law- yer must engage an agent to make the in-person verifi cation," she says. "We also recommend other steps such as waiting for funds to clear before paying out and asking yourself why the new cli- ent chose you to act for them." Buchanan also points out that law- yers must be particularly vigilant in the months ahead. She notes fraudsters typi- cally target law fi rms during the summer or holidays when they reduce staff levels. Pinnington, meanwhile, urges law- yers to remain on the lookout at all times. "Don't let your guard down. You have to be very vigilant that you are in fact dealing with a legitimate matter and don't underestimate the length at which the fraudsters are prepared to go to make a matter sound legitimate." CANADA LAW BOOK® Untitled-1 1 5/10/11 9:27:36 AM www.lawtimesnews.com

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