Playa del Carmen

The Quebec Disciplinary Council ordered the immediate provisional removal of a recently-admitted attorney.

Among the many allegations

In Montreal, since or around January 24, 2025, and until the filing of this disciplinary complaint, published, disseminated, communicated on its website www.hathawaylegal.com information that is false or that it should know to be false, in particular leading the public to believe that the firm is composed of several experienced lawyers when it practices alone and had only two years of practice at the time of this publication, thereby contravening article 19 of the Code of Ethics of Lawyers .

The attorney was admitted in July 2022

The complainant’s investigation also revealed that the respondent, less than three months after his swearing-in which took place in July 2022, was the subject of very serious criminal charges, namely:

–       knowingly uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm to CD;

–       having acted towards MS with the intention of harassing her or without regard for the fact that she felt harassed, having the effect of making her reasonably fear for her safety or that of one of her acquaintances;

–       having acted towards L.-AH with the intention of harassing her or without caring that she felt harassed, having the effect of making her reasonably fear for her safety or that of one of her acquaintances;

–       having carried and concealed a weapon;

–       having used a firearm when making threats;

–       Having carried or had in his possession a weapon for a purpose dangerous to public peace and/or with a view to committing an offense.

Complainant alleges that Respondent failed to comply with his obligation to notify them of the criminal matters

The complainant reports that it was only after being summoned on February 24, 2025 to the Office of the Syndic of the Bar and having been contradicted with his numerous lies and deceptions, that the respondent admitted that he had been practicing full-time from Playa del Carmen in Mexico, and had been doing so since at least September 2024.

 The complainant states that his investigation determined that all of the respondent’s excuses to customers regarding alleged car accidents and hospitalizations were “just a pack of lies.”

All the elements discovered during the investigation show that the actions of this lawyer, who has not yet practiced for three years, constitute a general lack of integrity towards all the players in the judicial system, namely the public in general, his clients, his professional body and the courts.

According to the complainant, this modus operandi , which is found in all the files under investigation, is as follows:

–       False advertising on a website leading clients to believe that they are dealing with a team of experienced lawyers when in reality this lawyer has barely more than two (2) years of experience and practices alone or invents a scenario which falsely leads the client to believe that he is “referred” by a reference site which, in fact, belongs to the respondent;

–       The respondent demands full payment for the services to be rendered before even taking the slightest step in the files and in violation of the Regulation respecting accounting and professional practice standards for lawyers , does not deposit the advances received in a trust account and immediately collects all amounts received from clients;

–       Once these advances have been appropriated, the respondent becomes difficult, even impossible to reach, cancels preparation meetings at the last minute, does not return calls, does not respect his commitments to call back clients;

–       And when a client shows his dissatisfaction with the handling of his file, the respondent multiplies the lying excuses and deceptions of all kinds to camouflage his lack of availability and diligence;

–       He cunningly reassures customers by claiming that he has never abandoned a customer and has always provided quality services, even though this is completely false, as the latter is the subject of a multitude of requests for investigation;

–       He even invents an impressive track record with a success rate of over 95% when it is completely false;

–       He falsely claims to various clients that he has had car accidents and been hospitalized, that he has had health problems and had to go to the hospital to justify not having followed through on promises of appointments or to try to justify his absences from court;

–       When the case finally comes to trial, the clients learn with amazement that the respondent has made a request without their knowledge to proceed with the hearing before the Administrative Housing Tribunal (“TAL”) in virtual mode while they are present in Court;

–       And not only is the respondent on videoconference, but he is also in Playa del Carmen in Mexico while he claims to the Court that he has to be ”  traveling to Toronto  ” at the time of the scheduled hearings;

–       On at least three occasions, the respondent simply failed to appear at the hearings, leaving the client completely helpless and forced to proceed in his absence…

Respondent did not respond.

Ordered