Latest news with #LawSocietyofAlberta
Calgary Herald
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Calgary lawyer John Carpay tells disciplinary hearing his decision to spy on Manitoba judge was 'grave error'
Spying on a Manitoba judge who was presiding over a COVID-related case was 'foolhardy, misguided, inappropriate and stupid,' a Calgary lawyer told a disciplinary hearing Wednesday, calling his behaviour a 'grave error in judgment.' Article content Article content But John Carpay, the founder and president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, testified he still believes his criminal prosecution in the case was wrong and 'politically motivated.' Article content Article content Carpay told his lawyer, Alain Hepner, he was exonerated when the prosecution dropped criminal allegations when he agreed to a three-year peace bond prohibiting him from practicing law. Article content Article content The lawyer is facing sanctions by the Law Society of Alberta over his conduct in hiring a private investigator in a bid to catch Manitoba Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal breaking COVID rules during pandemic lockdowns. Article content Carpay also had his investigator follow then-Manitoba premier Brian Pallister and the province's chief medical officer of health. At the time Joyal was presiding over a challenge by the Gateway Bible Baptist Church and other Manitoba churches to the constitutionality of the COVID-19 rules imposed by that province's government. Article content Carpay denied a suggestion by Law Society of Alberta prosecutor Karl Seidenz that had his private investigator been able to obtain photographs or videos of Joyal breaking the rules, he would have released them to expose the judge as a hypocrite, as he would with the premier or chief health officer. Article content Article content 'In the case of the chief judge I would have released photos only after the final conclusion of all litigation proceedings, there's no way I would have released that prior to the release of the judgment,' Carpay said. Article content 'It's about accountability for government officials, It's not about embarrassment or hypocrisy per se, although those could be constituent elements that play into the bigger issue, which is accountability.' Article content Carpay, and lawyer Jay Cameron, are before a three-member Law Society of Alberta panel after having been found to have breached their professional code of conduct by spying on Joyal. Article content Carpay told Hepner his organization, which assists groups making constitutional challenges, had taken on the Gateway case to fight the pandemic-related lockdowns.
CBC
01-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Alberta lawyers who had Manitoba judge tailed lose bid to avoid law society discipline in their province
Two Alberta lawyers who hired a private investigator to follow the Manitoba judge who presided over their case challenging COVID-19 restrictions in 2021 have lost their bid to avoid possible law society discipline in their province. Jay Cameron and John Carpay argued they shouldn't have to face potential censure by the Law Society of Alberta because they had already been punished for their actions by Manitoba's legal regulator, which in 2023 barred them from practising in that province and ordered them to pay $5,000. The lawyers argued Alberta's law society "exhausted its jurisdiction" when it allowed Manitoba's regulator to conduct the initial investigation and proceedings, and that proceeding with its own now "amounts to "double discipline" and is an abuse of process,'" a Law Society of Alberta hearing committee decision released last month says. However, the decision concluded, going along with that interpretation "would result in the untenable situation" that the Law Society of Alberta "is unable to remove from its rolls a lawyer who is unsuitable for practice," and noted the Manitoba proceedings determined that province's law society didn't have the jurisdiction to suspend or disbar Alberta lawyers. Cameron and Carpay were charged with attempting to obstruct justice and intimidation of a justice system participant after hiring a private investigator to follow Manitoba Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, who was presiding over a case against pandemic rules brought forward by seven rural Manitoba churches represented by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which the accused both worked for. Both lawyers were in October 2023 barred from practising law in Canada for three years as part of a plea deal with Manitoba prosecutors that saw their charges stayed in a case that involved behaviour a judge called " nothing short of an affront on the administration of justice." Wanted to prove public health rules arbitrary Court heard in 2023 Carpay hired a private investigation firm to tail several Manitoba officials in addition to Joyal, including Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, and then-premier Brian Pallister. Cameron, whose professional corporation had been retained by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, had proposed using any proof of public officials breaching public health rules in an affidavit to potentially support an argument that the orders were arbitrary, court heard. Joyal revealed in court that he was being followed while the COVID-19 challenge case was being heard in July 2021. He said he noticed he was being tailed by someone in a black vehicle and tried to confront them as they avoided eye contact, court heard. After a break in that hearing, Carpay said his organization had retained the investigator. Both he and Cameron apologized for the error in judgment. At some point after that, court heard, Carpay deleted the entire contents of his email account, including all correspondence with the private investigator. Cameron also later directed the investigator to stop all surveillance "and delete everything." Cameron and Carpay's lawyers previously said their clients didn't intend to obstruct justice or intimidate, and that they were taking steps they "believed to be appropriate at the time." Joyal ultimately found the province's public health orders were reasonable limitations on the group's Charter rights in the context of the pandemic, and that Manitoba's chief public health officer did have the authority to execute them. Cameron and Carpay's law society hearing in Alberta is scheduled for May 28, the law society decision says.
CBC
28-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis 'attempted to influence' witness testimony, law society alleges
Social Sharing Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis is facing two new allegations of professional misconduct in connection with a "threatening" letter sent on his behalf to a plaintiff who was in the middle of testifying. The latest allegations come just one day after CBC News reported that Denis is appealing two previous Law Society of Alberta citations and fines. When asked how Denis is feeling about the latest development, his lawyer Alain Hepner said he's "not great for a number of reasons but we're dealing with it." The new citations are connected to a lawsuit filed by Alberta's former chief medical examiner Anny Sauvageau who sued the province and was mid-testimony in an Edmonton courtroom in 2022 when she received a letter sent on Denis' behalf, threatening defamation action. Denis was initially found guilty of contempt of court over the letter but that was ultimately overturned by the Alberta Court of Appeal which found the judge presiding over the hearing had made procedural errors. The first law society citation is connected to the allegation that Denis "attempted to influence the evidence of a witness at trial by threatening a defamation action." The second citation alleges Denis "failed to act honourably and with integrity by using a junior associate to send a threatening letter on his behalf." The letter at the centre of the conduct allegations was sent on Denis' behalf by Kyle Shewchuk, a lawyer at Denis's Calgary-based Guardian Law firm who'd been practising for just eight months at the time. Sauvageau's three-year contract was not renewed when it expired in 2014. She filed a $7.6 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the Alberta government. Denis was justice minister when Sauvageau's contract was not renewed. That lawsuit had made its way to court and, in April 2022, Sauvageau was mid-testimony when her lawyer received a letter, sent by a junior lawyer at Denis' firm on his behalf. 'We have been closely watching' It accused Sauvageau of engaging "in a seven-year campaign of defamation and harassment" against Denis and went on to say, "We have been closely watching Dr. Sauvageau's current trial and are aware that … Dr. Sauvageau's defamation of Mr. Denis has continued unabated." "Mr. Denis is a respected and renowned lawyer and business person and will not tolerate these tortious actions against him. These actions must forthwith cease and we reserve the right to refer to this correspondence should Dr. Sauvageau's defamation continue." At the time, Denis's lawyer insisted that the letter was not meant to impact Sauvageau's ongoing testimony and was written out of concern that she was speaking with media outside of court. While the trial judge found that the letter had a chilling effect on Sauvageau and ruled Denis was in contempt, the court of appeal ruled that once cited in contempt, the case should then have been handed over to another judge for a full hearing. Denis' contempt conviction was overturned. Months later, in September 2022, Sauvageau abandoned her lawsuit. Other law society citations In 2023, Denis was cited by the law society on two sets of allegations involving a conflict of interest and a threat made to a woman's employment. Denis was convicted and fined $5,000 in late 2024. He has also been ordered to pay $15,000 in costs. CBC News reported Thursday that Denis is appealing his convictions, fines and legal costs. A date for his latest law society hearing has not been set.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis appealing law society convictions and fines
Social Sharing Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis is fighting his Law Society of Alberta (LSA) convictions, fines and the costs he was ordered to pay following the findings of guilt on two instances of professional misconduct. Denis was found guilty of two violations in September 2024 and fined $5,000. He was also ordered to pay $15,000 in legal fees on top of his fines. Denis's lawyer Alain Hepner confirmed to CBC News that he is appealing. According to Hepner, a panel of law society benchers will hear the appeal. A bencher is a lawyer elected by law society members to sit on disciplinary and other panels for the self-regulating society. Denis, a former Progressive Conservative MLA for Calgary-Acadia, opened a law firm after losing his seat in the 2015 provincial election. He was cited by the law society in 2023 on two sets of allegations. In the first count, Denis was found to have acted in a conflict of interest when he represented two families of teenage girls — both the driver and passenger — who were involved in a car crash. Denis ultimately dropped the driver as a client — after she'd provided a statement and sent her lawyer photos of the crash scene — in order to represent the passenger. He then filed a lawsuit against the driver on behalf of the passenger. Threatening emails On the second citation, Denis was found to have threatened a woman's employment on behalf of a client who had dated her behind his wife's back. After learning he was married, the woman contacted the wife of the man she'd been dating, to let her know about her husband's infidelity. Denis then sent cease-and-desist emails to the woman, threatening to tell her employer she had violated its code of conduct. The LSA found the emails "contain clear evidence that Mr. Denis twice made a threat." In making its ruling, the committee said the Legal Profession Act clearly lays out that "if the complaint is justified, it should be made, not threatened." Denis to pay $20k in fines, costs In December, the LSA disciplinary panel accepted a joint submission from Denis's lawyer Hepner and Shanna Hunka, counsel for the law society, of a fine of $5,000 ($2,500 for each citation), finding the conduct was at "the lower range of seriousness." The panel chair noted that while Denis has no prior record, he has persisted in his denial of wrongdoing. Hunka argued Denis should pay $26,000 in legal costs on top of the fine, while Hepner argued no further financial penalties were necessary. In the end, Denis was ordered to pay $15,000 in costs. Hepner said Denis has paid the $5,000 in fines but has until April 30 to pay the legal costs. A date for Denis's appeal arguments has not been set. Hepner indicated he plans to appeal the findings of guilt on both citations, the sanctions imposed and the costs awarded. Denis served as Alberta's justice minister for three years until he lost his seat in 2015.
Associated Press
25-02-2025
- Associated Press
Akram Law Offers Free Consultations for Calgary Residents Facing DUI and Impaired Driving Charges
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