Ontario Admits Disbarred Florida Attorney

An application for admission to practice was allowed (over a dissent) by a Tribunal Hearing Division of the Law Society of Upper Canada

The issue before us is whether the applicant, Ronald Ori Davidovic, is of good character and should receive a licence to practise as a lawyer in Ontario. He was called to the Florida Bar in 1996 and practised there for eight years. He pleaded guilty in November 2004 to one count of receiving material containing the visual depiction of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. He spent over two years in federal prison and was registered as a sex offender in Florida.

 In December 2004, the applicant petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for a disciplinary resignation. Effective February 1, 2005, he was granted permission to resign from the Florida Bar, with leave to reapply after five years.

Mr. Davidovic did not reapply to the Florida Bar. In 2015, he applied for licensing as a Lawyer to the Law Society of Upper Canada, and he intends to move to Toronto, where several of his close relatives live.

His application proceeded to a hearing, where the parties presented an Agreed Statement of Facts, a corresponding Book of Documents, the applicant’s Book of Character References, and a Joint Book of Authorities, all on consent.

The only evidence that was not presented jointly was the testimony of the applicant. When asked for the Law Society’s position at the outset of the hearing, Law Society counsel, Amanda Worley, said she would hear the applicant’s evidence and then would advise the panel of the Law Society’s final position. In closing submissions, Ms. Worley did not oppose this application and she gave the Law Society’s basis for reaching this conclusion.

We have reviewed the dissenting reasons of Mr. Cooper.

For reasons that follow, we allow the application.

The crimes

  In January 2004, the police executed a search warrant at his home. At the time of the arrest the applicant was married with a three year old child, and his wife was pregnant. In the ensuing period, the applicant confessed to his wife, to the police authorities, and ultimately to the Florida Court, that he had been viewing adult, teen and child pornography for the previous several years. There is no evidence that the applicant participated in any distribution of pornography, and there is no evidence of his involvement in any improper sexual contact with any children.

The majority found he satisfied the criteria for admission

The applicant’s conduct in the years preceding 2004 was reprehensible, but it is not an automatic or permanent bar to his admission, given the evidence and positions of the parties, and in light of the applicant’s determination to be an ethical and productive lawyer.

There are many Tribunal decisions in which the facts of the individual case weighed in favour of licensing or reinstatement, despite the earlier commission of serious criminal offences. In the recent decision in Yeager, it was narcotics trafficking and theft under. In Baker, the applicant committed criminal harassment relating to a family dispute. The applicant has thoroughly understood what he has done. He has worked very hard since then to reach this point in terms of rehabilitation.

We therefore find that the applicant is of good character and grant his application for licensing as a Lawyer in Ontario.

Paul Cooper dissented

In assessing this application to determine whether Mr. Davidovic is presently of good character, we must review and consider the totality of the evidence. The record on this application is lacking, and at times inconsistent. Mr. Davidovic is a poor historian and his testimony lacks reliability. The applicant was often inconsistent with the Agreed Statement of Facts..

Mr. Davidovic is not required to warrant perfection but he must show, on the balance of probabilities, he is presently of good character. The applicant has failed to satisfy this burden. Despite his diagnosis of paraphilia in 2008, Mr. Davidovic has failed to provide us with any information on this unresolved issue that underpins the original illegal behaviour and misconduct. I do not believe the evidence shows on a balance of probabilities that he is rehabilitated nor that he fully comprehends victim empathy or remorse. For the above reasons, I would dismiss this application. 

(Mike Frisch)