“Ungovernable” In Canada; Disbarred In Michigan
A disbarment from a Michigan hearing panel has an unusual aspect
Respondent did not attend the public hearing and was in default for his failure to file an answer to the formal complaint. Based on respondent’s default, the hearing panel found that respondent was determined to be ungovernable within the meaning of Law Society of Upper Canada v Ebagua, 2014 ON LSTA40; practiced law while suspended, in violation of Rule 6.07(3) of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Upper Canada; communicated with a potential client in a manner inconsistent with the proper tone of professional communication, in violation of Rule 6.03(5) of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Upper Canada; failed to maintain the integrity of the legal profession, in violation of Rule 6.01 (1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Upper Canada; practiced law through a business entity that did not have a Certificate of Authorization from the Law Society of Upper Canada, in violation of §61.0. 7 of the Law Society Act; and, failed to cooperate with an investigation conducted by the Law Society of Upper Canada, in violation of Rule 6.02 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Upper Canada and §49.3 of the Law Society Act.
Law Times had reported on the Canada disbarment in February 2015
Leahy, a lawyer called to the bar of Ontario in 1991, spent a good part of his career caught in the crosshairs of the law society. After years of proceedings, the regulator disbarred him in December for professional misconduct.
One of his past proceedings dates back to a 2004 suspension for practising without insurance with more recent decisions dealing with findings such as a failure to co-operate with an investigation.
Last year, the law society found Leahy guilty of practising law during a suspension of his licence, communicating with a client in an unprofessional manner, and failing to co-operate with an investigation in relation to a complaint from Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton.
In January 2013, Leahy, convinced that Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes had a personal vendetta against him, wrote a complaint to Crampton.
“It really does not matter to me that Justice Barnes loathes me, but, when he continues to pursue a personal agenda at my litigants’ expense a time comes when I must speak out,” he wrote in the letter.
Leahy went on to describe his side of the legal wrangling involving federal skilled workers and a failure by Barnes to enforce an agreement.
He also criticized Barnes for penning “a venom-laced” decision against him.
“. . . In his zeal to skewer me and slice and dice anyone who retains my services, Justice Barnes has issued an irrational decision,” according to the letter, which also suggested removing Barnes from the matter lest he continue “knifing” Leahy’s clients.
While Leahy can no longer practise, the case behind the complaint affects the lives of hundreds of potential immigrants. Some of the litigants had applied to become permanent residents through the federal skilled-worker category as far back as 2004, but their applications were still languishing at Citizenship and Immigration Canada when a note in the 2012 budget proposed throwing them out in order to reduce the backlog of cases.
(Mike Frisch)