City lawyer guilty of 17 counts of misconduct: watchdog
A Winnipeg lawyer with a history of legal misdeeds has been found guilty of 17 counts of professional misconduct by the province's legal watchdog.
Paul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa, who has practised law in Manitoba since 1989, will face a disciplinary hearing before the Law Society of Manitoba at a later date.
A law society panel heard evidence over seven months and found the 67-year-old sole practitioner guilty of offences that include sending abusive or offensive correspondence, failing to treat the court with 'candour, courtesy and respect,' recording meetings with clients and other lawyers without their consent, failing to discharge his duties to clients and other lawyers 'honourably and with integrity,' and failing to inform a client he was practising under supervision.
'The panel cannot escape the very distinct impression that Mr. Vyamucharo-Shawa, to this day, lacks insight into the impact his behaviours and his words — spoken and written — have on others in the profession with whom he deals on a daily basis,' the panel wrote in a 78-page decision released June 20.
Vyamucharo-Shawa was first called to the bar in Malawai in 1982 and told the law society he was the first person of African descent to be admitted to the Manitoba bar.
The law society panel described Vyamucharo-Shaw's testimony as 'compelling' when describing discrimination he has experienced and 'exasperating' during his lengthy monologues detailing disagreements with the law society, court, and other lawyers.
'The panel is particularly concerned with what it perceives to be a refusal, or perhaps an inability, on the part of Mr. Vyamucharo-Shawa to accept responsibility and accountability for conduct which was clearly and demonstrably unacceptable,' the panel wrote. 'This is yet another reason why the panel believes that his evidence is generally unreliable.'
Law society records show that in 2019 Vyamucharo-Shawa was suspended from the practice of law for six months and ordered to pay $10,000 in hearing costs after he was found guilty of professional misconduct related to his representation of clients in three real estate transactions.
'When one turns to the member's record… one has grave concerns that permitting the member to return to practice after six months may well not be in the public interest,' the hearing panel wrote in its decision at the time, citing a professional history littered with allegations of misconduct.
In 1999, Vyamucharo-Shawa received a caution for breaching a trust condition. A year later he pleaded guilty to nine counts of professional misconduct, including misappropriating nearly $20,000 from a trust account. He was suspended from practice for one year and ordered to pay $10,000 in hearing costs.
In 2008, Vyamucharo-Shawa pleaded guilty to four charges related to assisting clients to defraud others and holding funds in his trust account to which he was not entitled. He was suspended for six months and ordered to pay $5000 in hearing costs.
That same year, Vyamucharo-Shawa was investigated for allegedly assisting another client perpetrate a fraud and using his trust account to help a client hide money. Vyamucharo-Shawa was not charged with any offences but entered an undertaking not to practise law for five years following the expiry of his six-month suspension.
Vyamucharo-Shawa returned to practice under law society-ordered supervision in 2015.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean PritchardCourts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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