What is the current standard of conduct for a lawyer who has been found guilty of misconduct by a panel of the Law Society of Upper Canada for failing to comply with the rules of professional conduct?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Law Society of Upper Canada v. Gregoropoulos, 2016 ONLSTH 148 (CanLII):

A large body of case law was cited by both counsel. Cases of this sort, which have been variously described as “abdication” or “dupe” cases, have attracted a range of penalties, from revocation of the licence to practise law, to a one-month suspension. In Law Society of Upper Canada v. Cunningham,[1] the appeal panel held that hearing panels should avoid over-reliance on labels used to describe misconduct, and should not conclude that a label will pre-determine the appropriate penalty.

Rather, the appropriate penalty must be derived from “carefully examining all of the circumstances, including the precise misconduct involved.”[2] The appeal panel listed a series of considerations, set out in the precedential case Law Society of Upper Canada v. Fazio,[3] which should inform penalty in “unwitting” mortgage fraud cases. These considerations include: • The extent to which the licensee neglected or abdicated his or her professional responsibilities • The duration of such neglect or abdication • Whether the neglect or abdication was accompanied by other ethical breaches • Its importance in facilitating the client’s criminality • The size or quantum of the facilitated criminality • Whether the licensee personally benefitted • The extent of remorse • Whether misconduct was admitted and the need for proof obviated • Whether the misconduct was out of character, or isolated, or explained in whole or in part by medical factors • The existence or lack of a prior disciplinary record.

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