As the regulatory body of lawyers in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador is authorized under the Law Society Act, 1999 to file complaints against members.
A complaint is authorized by the Complaints Authorization Committee when the Committee is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe a lawyer has engaged in conduct deserving of sanction. A complaint is an unproven allegation until an adjudication tribunal makes a determination on its validity. At any hearing a settlement may be proposed.
Law Society disciplinary hearings generally take place at the Law Society office at 196-198 Water Street, St. John’s, and are open to the public. However, the adjudication tribunal has the right to make certain parts of the hearings, or even the entirety of a hearing, private at their discretion.
Notice of Referral to a Hearing
Respondent: | H. Edmund Montague |
Type of Hearing: | Conduct |
Date: | March 21, 2023 |
Time: | 10:00 am |
Place: | Zoom |
General Nature of the Charges
In accordance with s. 45(3) of the Law Society Act, 1999, (the “Act”) the Complaints Authorization Committee (the “Committee”) has determined that there are reasonable grounds to believe that H Edmund Montague (the “Respondent”) has engaged in conduct deserving of sanction and, in accordance with s. 45(3)(b) of the Act, the Committee has instructed the Vice-President to file the within Complaint against the Respondent on the basis that the Respondent is guilty of conduct deserving of sanction in that he:
C2021-028
i. Breached the restrictions on his license to practice law as placed by the Complaints Authorization Committee on March 14, 2019; and
ii. Acted contrary to the suspension of his license to practice as placed by the Complaints Authorization Committee on February 6, 2020
As a result of the foregoing, the Respondent:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. The Complaints Authorization Committee restricted the Respondent’s licence to practice on March 14, 2019 such that he was not permitted to provide legal services to anyone other than clients of Legal Aid NL;
ii. The Respondent was retained by a client, who was not a client of Legal Aid, NL, following the issuance of the practice restrictions, to provide legal services;
iii. The Respondent represented to the client that he was qualified and entitled to provide legal services and accepted monies from the client for the legal services;
iv. The Complaints Authorization Committee suspended the Respondent’s licence to practice law on February 6, 2020;
v. The Respondent continued to represent to the client that he was qualified and entitled to provide legal services;
vi. The Respondent misled the client about the status of the matter and failed to complete the work he was retained to do.
C2021-061
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. The Respondent was retained by clients D.B. and D.R. in January, 2018 to prepare wills and to add D.R.,’s name to a parcel of land;
ii. The Respondent accepted a retainer in the amount of $194.60 to prepare and register the deed;
iii. The clients did not receive a copy of the deed and it was not registered; and
iv. The Respondent did not return any monies to D.B. and D.R. nor is there any money in the Respondent’s trust account for the clients, he, therefore, misappropriated the amount of $194.60 from his clients.
C2022-041
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. The Respondent was retained by client R.D. in 2015 to transfer the ownership of land;
ii. The Respondent accepted a retainer in the amount of $1,500.00 to prepare and register the necessary documents – an additional amount of $1,418.80 was later requested;
iii. The Respondent prepared some of the documents and advised R.D. that the documents were sent to the registry for registration;
iv. The Respondent was not appropriately responsive with R.D. regarding the status of the matter;
v. The Respondent did not complete the transfer of the ownership of the land or register any documents;
vi. The Respondent did not return any money to R.D. nor is there any money in the Respondent’s trust account for R.D. The Respondent, therefore, misappropriated all or a portion of the $1,500.00 retainer received from R.D.
Notice of the Hearing Date
Respondent: | Robert Regular |
Type of Hearing: | Conduct |
Date: | March 22-23, 2023 |
Time: | 9:30 am |
Place: | Law Society Building, 196-198 Water Street, St. John’s, NL |
General Nature of the Charges
In accordance with s. 45(3) of the Law Society Act, 1999, (the “Act”) the Complaints Authorization Committee (the “Committee”) has determined that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Robert Regular (the “Respondent”) has engaged in conduct deserving of sanction and, in accordance with s. 45(3)(b) of the Act, the Committee has instructed the Vice-President to file the within Complaint against the Respondent on the basis that the Respondent is guilty of conduct deserving of sanction in that he:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
Notice of the Hearing Date
Respondent: | Averill Baker |
Type of Hearing: | Conduct |
Date: | May 15 -19, 2023 |
Time: | 10:00 am |
Place: | Law Society Building, 196-198 Water Street, St. John’s, NL |
General Nature of the Charges
In accordance with s. 45(3) of the Law Society Act, 1999, (the “Act”) the Complaints Authorization Committee (the “Committee”) has determined that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Averill Baker (the “Respondent”) has engaged in conduct deserving of sanction and, in accordance with s. 45(3)(b) of the Act, the Committee has instructed the Vice-President to file the within Complaint against the Respondent on the basis that the Respondent is guilty of conduct deserving of sanction in that she:
C2021-064
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That the Respondent:
i. failed to provide a response to a trust audit report notwithstanding several requests from the Law Society to do so and the Respondent’s confirmation that she would do so.
C2022-021
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. an allegation (the above noted Complaint File Number C2021-064) was filed by the Vice-President;
ii. the Law Society requested a response from the Respondent relating to the allegation; and
iii. notwithstanding several requests for a response and the Respondent’s confirmation that she would do so, the Respondent failed to respond to the allegation.
C2022-005
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. the Law Society received written correspondence from the Respondent’s client requesting help opening the lines of communication between him and the Respondent and expressing concern about the service he had received from the Respondent;
ii. the Law Society requested confirmation from the Respondent that she had contacted the client; and
iii. notwithstanding several requests for such confirmation, the Respondent failed to provide confirmation to the Law Society that she had contacted her client.
C2022-019
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. an allegation (Complaint File Number C2022-001) was filed by the VicePresident;
ii. the Law Society requested a response from the Respondent relating to the allegation;Page 4 of 6
iii. the Respondent did not provide a response to the allegation or otherwise communicate with the Law Society regarding the allegation.
C2021-001
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. Following her eviction from the premises of her law offices in November, 2021, the Respondent’s landlord, who is not a member of the Law Society, collected all of the property associated with the Respondent’s law office, including client files, and arranged for its storage;
ii. The Respondent did not make any effort to retrieve the property from storage;
iii. The Respondent’s former landlord contacted the Law Society on December 17, 2021 with respect to the property associated with the Respondent’s practice in his possession;
iv. When the Law Society took possession in accordance with a custodianship order on December 20, 2021, it was discovered that the office space, in which the filing cabinets and boxes with client files were stored, was not locked. The filing cabinets were not locked and client information was visible when the door to the space was opened;
v. The Respondent did not protect solicitor-client information with respect to the client files stored by the landlord; and
vi. The Respondent did not provide a response to the allegation to the Complaints Authorization Committee.
C2022-029
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. The Respondent was retained by client T.M. to pursue a claim;
ii. The Respondent failed to appropriately, or within a reasonable time, move the matter forward;
iii. The Respondent failed to appropriately, or within a reasonable time, respond to T.M.’s inquiries about the matter;
iv. T.M. requested the return of his file from the Respondent;
v. The Respondent, despite assuring T.M. the file would be returned, failed to return the file and failed to communicate with the Law Society regarding the file (see Complaint C22-005); and
vi. The tone of some of the Respondent’s communications with T.M. were unprofessional and the contents of some of her communications were misleading.
C2022-029
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. The Respondent was retained by client T.M. to pursue a claim;
ii. The Respondent failed to appropriately, or within a reasonable time, move the matter forward;
iii. The Respondent failed to appropriately, or within a reasonable time, respond to T.M.’s inquiries about the matter;
iv. M. requested the return of his file from the Respondent;
v. The Respondent, despite assuring T.M. the file would be returned, failed to return the file and failed to communicate with the Law Society regarding the file (see Complaint C22-005); and
vi. The tone of some of the Respondent’s communications with T.M. were unprofessional and the contents of some of her communications were misleading.
C2022-040:
Law Society Rules:
Code of Professional Conduct:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. an allegation (Complaint File Number C2022-029) was filed by T.M.;
ii. the Law Society requested a response from the Respondent relating to the allegation;
iii. notwithstanding several requests for a response, the Respondent failed to provide a response to the allegation.
C2022-054
Code of Professional Conduct:
Law Society Rules:
The particulars of the Complaint are as follows:
That:
i. The Respondent was retained by client P.M. to pursue two matters, a slip and fall and a motor vehicle accident.
ii. The Respondent failed to appropriately, or within a reasonable time, move both matters forward;
iii. The Respondent failed to file a statement of claim relating to the motor vehicle accident before the expiry of the limitation period;
iv. The Respondent did not respond to legal inquiries from P.M. relating to the matters;
v. The Respondent was not honest or candid with P.M. relating to the status of either matter; and
vi. The Respondent failed to cooperate with the disciplinary investigation before the Complaints Authorization Committee.