Law Society of Ontario

And, you know, but what you said, I've had people contact me.

I've been critical of the KMR Association, the Advocate Society, of the Law Society of Ontario, of Alberta.

I publicly, you know, in my book, I say that the Law Society of Alberta engaged in its institutional betrayal.

Um, and I seem to be getting away with

It is.

The Law Society of Ontario is probably going to have some very serious ramifications for that.

One can only hope.

And thank you to FCT for flagging it.

A vigil will be held in Wainwright tonight for the four young soldiers who died.

The Law Society of Ontario has received a complaint alleging a Toronto lawyer built a career around an Indigenous identity she cannot prove, including teaching Indigenous law at the University of Toronto.

As Melissa Ridgen reports, the complaint seeks to put the Law Society on the hook to make sure its members are who they say they are.

Melissa.

Donna,

a complaint filed with the Law Society of Ontario last week asks for disciplinary action against a Toronto lawyer who claims to be Anishinaabe, building a career specializing in Indigenous law while allegedly having no evidence that she's Indigenous at all.

The complaint was

made

of Canadian society? An eminently reasonable question and not one that I find it easy to answer.

And I am extremely concerned at what I hear on a subject you touched upon a moment ago of discrimination with quotas and things for admission to professions, legal profession a little bit, although the recent elections to the the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Bar of Ontario, turned against those people.

And it's been a little heralded minor victory for the forces of toleration, you know, the election for the benchers of the Law Society.

But I understand there are problems in the medical profession.

I worked in professional standards investigating and sometimes having to take charge in the arrest of my own officers.

Following that, I investigated lawyers and paralegals for the Law Society of Ontario.

I'll get into more of my experience as we go, but, um, I do have experience.

It's just a little bit different.

Uh, you may recall the fight over some trees at, uh, at Queen Street and University in front of-

of-Uh, the Law Society of Upper Canada, where the province wanted to build a new subway station, and they, they took it to the courts, they took to the province to the courts about cutting down these trees.

Um, so if you, if you open the door to a battle, uh, there will be one.

I would agree putting [laughs] doing this, you know, 10 days before a municipal election is asking for trouble.

He's also participated in public inquiries dealing with Indigenous and First Nations rights, police brutality, the tainted blood scandal, the water contamination crisis in Walkerton, and even judicial council hearings dealing with judicial misconduct.

He's appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in over 50 cases and his commitment to fearless advocacy and the pursuit of justice for clients from all walks of life have earned him universal respect and admiration, as well as numerous awards, including the Advocates Society Medal, the Ontario Bar Association Award for Excellence in Civil Litigation, the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Gold Key Award, the Lexpert Zenith Leadership Through Change Award, the Toronto Lawyers Association Award of Distinction, and an honorary doctorate from the Law Society of Ontario.

He's with me today to discuss his brand new book entitled In the Courts, A Council's Memoir, which is a fascinating, compelling, and profoundly insightful contribution to the evolution of the law and justice system and the history of advocacy in Canada.

I'm delighted to welcome Canada's preeminent counsel, Earl Cherniak, to our show.

Beth had gotten married and juggled motherhood with law school, eventually graduating.

In order to pass the bar in Ontario, they must be of good character, while also reporting all criminal proceedings to the Law Society of Ontario, where they might have to undergo a hearing to prove that they meet all ethical and professional standards.

The Bathtub Girl story was featured in pop culture in a variety of different ways.

Bob Mitchell, a journalist for the Toronto Star, published a book in 2008 titled The Class Project, How to Kill a Mother, The True Story of Canada's Infamous Bathtub Girls.

DeRosa advertised himself as a licensed paralegal and took on clients who believed they were paying a qualified legal professional.

What the fuck? Except he never had actually been licensed by the Law Society of Ontario.

In 2023, one client paid him more than $3,000 for help with a small claims court case, and DeRosa later told him that he had won the case, despite having done almost nothing beyond a single filing.

Oh.