In Lawyers We Trust

People who live in housing co-operatives cannot get Legal Aid even if they qualify, as Legal Aid no longer funds civil cases, so over the course of the past few years we've hired two separate law firms to act on our behalf. We were extremely pleased with the integrity of the female lawyer regarding subsidy and privacy issues. Our lawyer spoke only once by telephone with the Office Co-ordinator who had promised to forward to her pertinent documents. The Office Co-ordinator never did follow through and all attempts by our lawyer to communicate with her again either by email, telephone calls and/or FAXes were ignored. Our lawyer had no choice but to close our file. However, our lawyer's two letters to the co-op are worth their weight in gold, as she meticulously documented the various times and methods in which she attempted to communicate with the Office Co-ordinator and noted the Office Co-ordinator's failure to provide the requested documentation. My husband and I continued on with our case with the Privacy Commissioner's Office and they ruled in our favour.

Some time later the co-op was intent on transferring us to a unit with a leaky basement (see my previous posts in 2010). We had to find another lawyer, as the previous lawyer had taken a leave of absence. I emailed over a dozen law firms, but received a telephone call from only one. A female articling student, or a newly minted lawyer, acting on behalf of a law firm sounded very kind. I made an appointment to see them at their office downtown. This woman interviewed us, with the lawyer sitting off to one side. The lawyer asked us, 'How do I know you have the money to pay for all this'. I said that I had brought $200.00 cash and would give him an $800.00 cheque. We signed a contract with the lawyer.

The only thing that this lawyer's office did was FAX a quick letter to our co-op stating that he was our lawyer. In addition, the lawyer missed a crucial deadline. Our file was then passed on to a law student. I realized then that the law firm was just leading us on, so I told the law student that we'd handle our case from then on.

It didn't feel right that we never did receive a Statement of Account, as they are legally required to do, so last week I assembled our email communications, so that I could see the picture as a whole. As I was waiting for a bus earlier this week I picked up one of those free newspapers. I turned the first page and I couldn't believe my eyes. There, in black and white, was a photo of the lawyer we had hired and a heading that that he had bilked his clients for over $300,000. Here are links to those articles:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Society+seeks+missing+300K/4916037/story.html

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Lawyer+denies+claims+bilked+clients/4924895/story.html

We will be registering a complaint with The Law Society of Upper Canada. It's not that we're expecting a return of our retainer, although that would be very nice, but knowing that the Law Society is on to this lawyer, gives us a feeling of justice - that it's simply criminal to take advantage of vulnerable people.