Law Times

Page 4 February 22, 2016 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS law.utoronto.ca/ExecutiveLLM GPLLM Global Professional Master of Laws [Get a Master of Laws] Because business issues are legal issues. So if you want to get ahead in business, get the degree that gets you there faster. ONE YEAR – PART - TIME – NO THESIS – FOR L AWYERS AND NON - LAWYERS Untitled-8 1 2015-03-02 11:15 AM istration of justice into disrepute as part of a raft of reforms to the process introduced in 2010. The measures were intended to tighten up the pardons sys- tem, prompted in part by the revelation that notorious junior hockey coach Graham James had received a pardon for his sexual assault convictions, as well as the fear that Karla Homolka could become eligible for a pardon un- der the previous version of the Criminal Records Act. "Under the old system, it was fairly pro forma; you were pretty certain to get a pardon if you met certain criteria. The new regime is a lot more discretionary, and you don't see a lot of challenges, partly because people tend to go through the process without a lawyer," Davies says. "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw more going forward." The new legislation created a bar on record suspensions for certain types of serious violent crimes. Although fraud was not in- cluded among the statutory ex- emptions to pardons, the parole board effectively treated Spring's case as though it was, according to his lawyer Robin McKechney of Toronto criminal defence firm Greenspan Humphrey Lavine. McKechney, who represented Spring in his judicial review ap- plication at the Federal Court, says both he and his client were "very gratified" with Justice Gleeson's decision. According to McKechney, Spring is also feeling "hopeful" about his fresh parole board ap- plication. "He has done everything any- one could ever ask for in terms of rehabilitation," McKechney says. Spring was 17 years into his career as a corporate commercial lawyer when he was disbarred in 1987 for the activities that would lead to his criminal convictions. According to Justice Glee- son's decision, he got one year of probation in 1990 after plead- ing guilty to one count of utter- ing a fraudulent document in a mortgage fraud case. In 1994, he pleaded guilty to seven more counts of fraud over $1,000 in- volving both institutional and individual complainants. This time he was sentenced to four and a half years in jail, before parole was granted 18 months later. The total losses to Spring's victims added up to more than $1 million, according to Justice Gleeson's decision, although he has since paid restitution to some of them. Since his release from prison, Spring has achieved significant success in real estate, despite his past being common knowledge in the business. Spring applied for a record suspension in October 2010, shortly after the changes to the federal Criminal Records Act that tightened up the system, but he received a positive recommen- dation from the senior records suspension officer that reviewed his application. Things changed in September 2013, when a parole board mem- ber indicated the PBC was lean- ing towards rejecting Spring's ap- plication, despite acknowledging his clean record and successful rehabilitation, on the grounds there were "credible concerns that granting a pardon would bring the administration of jus- tice into disrepute." Spring responded with letters of support from members of the community, but in May 2014, PBC member Lubomyr Luciuk formally denied his request for records suspension. "Given the nature, gravity, and duration of your criminal offending, and the need to main- tain public confidence in the integrity of the justice system, I conclude that granting a pardon in your case would likely bring the administration of justice into disrepute," Luciuk wrote. Although Justice Gleeson was satisfied that the PBC's deci- sion showed it was "aware of the positive aspects" of Spring's ap- plication, he wrote that there was nothing in it to "explain how the factors relating to the applicant's offences outweighed the positive aspects of the application." "Mr. Spring has been a model of rehabilitation since he pleaded guilty to fraud over 20 years ago. He has become a remarkably successful business person, em- ploying, directly and indirectly, hundreds of people. None of this was considered by the parole board, which is why the matter has been sent back by the Fed- eral Court for reconsideration," McKechney says. Jody Berkes, a Toronto crimi- nal lawyer who chairs the On- tario Bar Association's criminal justice section, says there has been little sign that the new Lib- eral federal government plans to reverse the changes made to the pardon system. In any event, he says much depends on the board mem- bers themselves, many of whom were appointed by the previous Conservative government, since Justice Gleeson's decision con- firmed that the standard of rea- sonableness, and not correctness, applied to judicial review of deci- sions by the board. "Even if the laws are rewritten, if the decision-makers are the same, we may not see a great deal of change. Their decisions don't have to be right, they just have to be reasonable, and reason- able people can disagree on most things," Berkes says. LT Disbarred lawyer 'hopeful' about parole board application Continued from page 1 Robin McKechney says his client 'has done everything anyone could ever ask for in terms of rehabilitation.' Even if the laws are rewritten, if the decision-makers are the same, we may not see a great deal of change. Jody Berkes

• Cover