Lawyers get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Lawyers are people, going about their days, who are certainly not perfect. And lawyers lead interesting and complex lives because of their particular position in society, bringing them into contact with different people all of the time. And of course, there are conflicts. Most lawyers decided on that career path to do good things for society. The field also attracts narcissists – this is well studied, who may wish to prey on others.
It’s an unusual life, being a lawyer. Bearing all of this in mind, it simply makes sense that there are so many TV shows about lawyers. But truth is stranger than fiction and life is often weirder than art. This week we have three weird and wacky stories about lawyers in the news.
A former lawyer assisting criminals to do crime
The Law Society of BC decisions come out fast and furious these days outlining improper conduct of lawyers and the punishment they receive. No lawyer wants to deal with a Law Society investigation but if you’re out in private practise, it’s almost inevitable that at some point they will call you to explain yourself. The threat of scrutiny keeps most lawyers in line, but apparently not Ronald Norman Pelletier.
Mr. Pelletier was disbarred last month for knowingly assisting in dishonesty, crime, or fraud relating to money laundering. Sounds pretty bad. What was he doing? Well, he was assisting US-based clients who were involved in an elaborate securities fraud. He took over $30 million into his trust account for the purpose of hiding it from US authorities who were conducting an investigation of securities fraud. He was paid $900,000 for this, which could not be considered legal services because the only “service” was to assist with the fraud.
Interestingly, Mr. Pelletier had a professional conduct record that included a conduct review from 2016 for driving while prohibited, providing a police officer investigating the incident with a false name, false date of birth and failing to report to the Law Society when he was charged regarding that incident.
Lying to a police officer who is investigating you is, in my view, a significant violation of public trust. Lawyers have an obligation to be honest. They may be mistaken. They may have frail memory. Deliberate dishonesty is a red flag in my opinion, however. In this case Mr. Pelletier seemed to be willing to commit crimes. Narcissist? Yes, perhaps.
A lawyer in a dispute about a glass wall
The CBC is reporting that Vancouver lawyer Naomi Arbabi is involved in litigation with her neighbour in which she filed a Notice of Claim using pseudolegal language in the nature of a one of these “Freeman of the Land” nuisance filings.
Arbabi’s notice of claim lists the defendant as “the woman: colleen mclelland,” in small letters and the plaintiff as “the woman: naomi arbabi.” CBC reports that the notice states the case would be tried in the “naomi arbabi court.” This all arises apparently because of a dispute about a glass partition concerning both parties who are neighbours in a condo.
As a lawyer, none of us ever want to be in court as a litigant. It feels distasteful. There is the suggestion that we are using the court, our home turf, in a manner exploitative of our position. The public sees lawyers and assumes we’re all part of a big club. They assume we’re looking to our club connections to get our way.
The other side of the equation is that lawyers should be permitted to seek justice in the courts just like anyone else. If we have a dispute, is there no access to justice for lawyers? From what I can gather, the courts are more than willing to entertain lawsuits over lawyers being paid but when it comes to lawsuits over other disputes, as a lawyer the best advice is do everything to avoid a lawsuit, even if it means you’re denied justice.
The defendant in this litigation recently asked the Court to report this case to the Law Society. It will be an interesting one to watch.
Pooping Pringle Lawyer Caught and Canned
One thing we’ve learned from DNA is that a lot of innocent people have been convicted over the years. DNA exonerations have become common. In cases where there was no DNA, I guess the wrongly convicted have no hope. Humans shed DNA in all bodily excretions, including poop, but that evidence wasn’t necessary in the next case because the defendant admitted to his conduct. And what was his conduct?
Lawyer Jack Blakeslee pooped in a Pringles can and then tossed the poop-filled can into the parking lot of a victim advocacy center in Cambridge Ohio. He said it was nothing more than a prank, one he admitted to doing at least 10 times that year.
Of course, when caught he was forced to appear before the Ohio Supreme Court which handles the regulation of lawyers in the state. He argued that it was no big deal – just a joke. It seems to me that he must have known that this isn’t a defence to this conduct. Yuk.
Mr. Blakeslee had no previous conduct record, despite over 40 years of practise. His punishment was a 1-year suspension.
To me this seems light because it was clearly a deliberate and intentional act. I suspect there is something else at play.
Many lawyers find themselves in trouble and the reason is drinking, drug use or depression. In those cases, often the matter seems to be dealt with as a medical issue, recognizing that alcoholism is a disease for example. Perhaps Mr. Blakeslee has some other problem that he didn’t want to expose. Mind you, there is not much more embarrassing than being known as a poop thrower.
