Professional Ethics: Comment on Recent Discipline Against Local Barrister
First, a quick comment about yesterday’s incident on Parliament Hill. Obviously, it cannot be ignored. At this point, we know little, aside from the released name of the shooter; the name and background of the tragically, mortally wounded reserve officer; and the heroics of the House of Commons’ Sergeant-at-Arms. Obviously, better security protocols are in order. However, a bit of introspection — looking inward — is likely necessary to understand and adapt to changing circumstances. Hopefully, Canada does not succumb to the continuing mistakes of my home country, the United States, following its attacks of 13 years ago.
Let’s get on-topic. Yesterday, an article (link is below) was published at CBC regarding a local Halifax lawyer who was disciplined by the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. The article also contained the link directly to the NSBS opinion. In a case where, per the discussion, the lawyer withheld knowledge of the dismissal of his client’s case — from five years before — and then attempted to actively conceal that knowledge from the client, to the client’s obvious prejudice, the result was a mere reprimand. As a lawyer and member of NSBS, I will not directly comment on the propriety of the result. I will allow the reader to reach their own conclusions regarding how severe the penalty should be for an allegation of fraudulent concealment perpetrated by a lawyer against a client.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/lawyer-kent-clarke-disciplined-for-mishandling-transit-lawsuit-1.2807970
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Jillian
Consent to reprimand… I firmly believe that the “slap on the wrist” attitude is directly responsible for leading the masses to believe that it is acceptable to be unaccountable, wreckless, and incompetent.
Forget about fiduciary duty; society in general has latched on to an overtly selfindulgent ideal that perpetutes a destructive cycle of entitlement and profound lack of respect for our fellow humans.
If there are no consequences that have an actual impact, then there is no standard to be held to. It is already apparent that some individuals actually believe that they can pitch tantrums through life to get what they want. Why do they feel this way? Because it’s working.
It seems as though society as a whole has become consumed with providing alternate courses of action for fear a good ol’fashioned “NO” might offend someone’s poor emotional well being. Seriously?
It’s time to get back to basics. If you do something wrong, you get punished. If you don’t deserve something, you don’t get it. If you are lazy and don’t apply yourself, you fail.
It’s not rocket science.
H.M.
That is so dirty.