Law society triggers hearing into Diamond & Diamond’s marketing, client referrals
Can Motorists be Jurors???
Road rage death results in three-year prison term
Court orders parent to produce underwriting file to prove she denied permission for her child to drive
Editorial: ICBC premium change won’t fix the problems
Primary & Secondary Headaches
Primary headaches are headaches without a known cause. The headaches include migraine headaches and tension type headaches or stress headaches. The onset of these headaches would usually be prior to and unrelated to a motor vehicle accident, but can worsen after the motor vehicle accident has occurred.
What NOT to Do After Sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury
A Traumatic Brain Injury is not something that anyone wants to mess around with. It is easy for a person to suffer even more serious injuries if they do not follow a certain set of guidelines.
You should know what you should and should not be doing after suffering from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The problem is that many people are abiding by the old set of rules that we once thought were the way to handle a TBI.
How do you know if you have a good lawyer given the recent media on whether Ontario lawyers are exaggerating their experience or credentials?
There’s no magic crystal ball but you can search for information in various locations. You can search Canlii https://www.canlii.org/en/ using the name of the lawyer (use “quotations” and various spellings of the first and last names). This will tell you if your lawyer has been in a court room in Ontario or whether they’ve been successful.
Search the LSO website https://www2.lsuc.on.ca/LawyerParalegalDirectory/loadSearchPage.do.
You can search FSCO at: http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/en/drs/Pages/arbitration_appeal_decisions.aspx .
Here’s where to search the names of lawyers who have current proceedings before the Law Society Tribunal https://lawsocietytribunal.ca/Pages/Mainpage.aspx#132
Tribunal Orders and Reasons also searchable https://lawsocietytribunal.ca/Pages/Orders.aspx#43
The Law Society of Ontario LSO (formerly Law Society of Upper Canada LSUC) is not exactly easy to search or to find information (see the bottom example).
Many of the upcoming hearings are in respect to truth in advertising:
Summary:
KERR – Failure to Co-operate – The Lawyer failed to reply promptly and completely to the Society’s inquiries in relation to four investigations, over a period of almost 12 months – He admitted his misconduct and he had no prior disciplinary record – The Lawyer described a series of staff disruptions and personal misfortunes, but there was no evidence from a health care practitioner about the medical condition he reported – In any event, during the period of his non-compliance, he was able to continue practising successfully – The Lawyer’s licence was suspended for one month, continuing indefinitely until he has provided a complete response to the Society’s requests regarding the four investigations.
REASONS FOR DECISION
OVERVIEW
[1] Raj Anand:– The Law Society alleged that Mr. Kerr (the respondent) failed to reply promptly and completely to its inquiries in relation to four of its investigations. Its evidence was contained in an affidavit of the Law Society’s investigator, which was admitted on consent. I made a finding of professional misconduct, which the respondent did not oppose, and I indicated that short written reasons would follow.
[2] Proceeding to penalty, Mr. Kerr testified and submitted additional evidence. Duty counsel submitted that the penalty should be a reprimand with conditions, while the Law Society asked for a one-month suspension. After argument, I reserved my decision.
[3] After considering the matter further, I order a one-month suspension, together with the agreed to amount of $4,000 in costs. These are my reasons.
PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT
[4] The affidavit evidence showed that over a period from May 3 to October 18, 2017, the investigator requested Mr. Kerr’s responses to the Law Society’s inquiries in order to proceed with five investigations. She received a response in one investigation on October 25, 2017, and none in the other four. During this period, the investigator wrote three letters and exchanged nine phone calls or messages with the respondent. The Law Society gave Mr. Kerr about six time extensions for response between May and October 2017.