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An Ottawa lawyer with serious memory problems has been disbarred after failing to help the Law Society of Ontario investigate complaints made by a raft of clients who are collectively owed more than $2.5 million.
Paul Thomas McEnery, now 69, suffered a stroke in the summer of 2013, but resumed practice months later at the Gilmour Street offices of Williams McEnery Barristers and Solicitors.
Almost all of the of the professional misconduct established by the Law Society Tribunal this week relates to events that took place after his stroke.
McEnery did not provide investigators with any of the documents they requested during a long and complicated probe into 23 complaints about events that took place between March 2010 and November 2015. He said he was unable to tell the Law Society exactly what happened to the missing money.
Most of the complaints relate to funds held in trust — or for investment purposes — that he misappropriated or directed to other clients. Some of the money was held in trust for estates, while other funds came from the sale of houses and condos.
The tribunal panel on Tuesday revoked McEnery’s law license and ordered him to repay the law society’s compensation fund for successful claims made against it by his clients.
Four clients have already made $1.3 million in claims against the fund, financed by Ontario’s legal community, which helps people who have lost money to dishonest lawyers.
At least seven more clients have launched civil lawsuits against McEnery. He does not face any criminal charges.
Forensic investigators from the law society concluded that there was a $2.55 million shortfall in McEnery’s trust account as of January 2016. But more victims have since been identified which means “the actual shortfall” in the trust account is greater, concludes one document entered at this week’s hearing.
McEnery’s lawyer, William Trudell, said he was unable to assist his client at the hearing because he could not receive proper instructions.
“I don’t think there’s much doubt that there’s a cognitive impairment that has taken over his life — perhaps creeping dementia or Alzheimer’s,” Trudell said in interview. “So he really has little memory of events.”
Trudell said he doesn’t expect McEnery will be able to manage his own care in the near future: “It’s very sad because he served the profession long and well.”
McEnery was called to the bar in 1974.
The law society tribunal did not receive any evidence of a new medical diagnosis for him, and McEnery did not attend the hearing.
The unusual case came to the attention of the law society in October 2015 when a former associate, Eric Williams, wrote the regulatory body and said two of McEnery’s legal assistants had approached him with concerns about “irregularities” with his practice.
(In a written statement, Williams said he shared office space and a legal banner with McEnery, but maintained separate clients along with separate trust and office accounts. Williams said his firm specialized in civil litigation while McEnery mostly practised real estate and commercial law.)
The law society assigned forensic auditor Hafsa Esmail to the case. She first met with McEnery in November 2015, but he “declined to answer whether funds were missing from his trust account.” Esmail subsequently sent official requests for his personal medical records, trust account statements and client files.
According to documents filed in the case, McEnery took some of those files out of the office and also attempted to remove an accounting computer. He later returned the missing files. The locks were changed on his office.
Law society investigators described the misconduct allegations against McEnery in a 40-page document that explored the complaints of 10 former clients. The experience of one man, identified only as TF, was typical.
TF retained McEnery to help him with the sale of one condominium and the purchase of another. In April 2015, TF met with McEnery to sign the closing papers and the lawyer asked him if he’d be interested in investing the proceeds in “bridge financing loans” that returned 7.5 per cent interest.
The loans, McEnery told him, would be backed by the value of his law firm’s office building (the firm did not own the building) and could be cashed with three months’ notice. Over the next few months, McEnery invested more than $387,000 in the scheme.
When he tried to cash in the investments to purchase his new condo, however, TF was told by McEnery that he had forgotten to recall the funds in time. TF had to borrow money to pay for his new condo in October 2015.
During the following weeks, TF pursued McEnery by email and phone in an attempt to get his money back, but the lawyer kept stalling. Finally, in a phone conversation on Nov. 20, McEnery told TF that he was suffering from memory problems as a result of a stroke and “didn’t recall what he had done with the funds he had received from TF in trust.”
The law society document says McEnery told investigators that the money was not invested in bridge financing, but he was unable to provide any information as to how it was used.
TF has launched a $387,000 claim against the society’s compensation fund.
查看原文...
Paul Thomas McEnery, now 69, suffered a stroke in the summer of 2013, but resumed practice months later at the Gilmour Street offices of Williams McEnery Barristers and Solicitors.
Almost all of the of the professional misconduct established by the Law Society Tribunal this week relates to events that took place after his stroke.
McEnery did not provide investigators with any of the documents they requested during a long and complicated probe into 23 complaints about events that took place between March 2010 and November 2015. He said he was unable to tell the Law Society exactly what happened to the missing money.
Most of the complaints relate to funds held in trust — or for investment purposes — that he misappropriated or directed to other clients. Some of the money was held in trust for estates, while other funds came from the sale of houses and condos.
The tribunal panel on Tuesday revoked McEnery’s law license and ordered him to repay the law society’s compensation fund for successful claims made against it by his clients.
Four clients have already made $1.3 million in claims against the fund, financed by Ontario’s legal community, which helps people who have lost money to dishonest lawyers.
At least seven more clients have launched civil lawsuits against McEnery. He does not face any criminal charges.
Forensic investigators from the law society concluded that there was a $2.55 million shortfall in McEnery’s trust account as of January 2016. But more victims have since been identified which means “the actual shortfall” in the trust account is greater, concludes one document entered at this week’s hearing.
McEnery’s lawyer, William Trudell, said he was unable to assist his client at the hearing because he could not receive proper instructions.
“I don’t think there’s much doubt that there’s a cognitive impairment that has taken over his life — perhaps creeping dementia or Alzheimer’s,” Trudell said in interview. “So he really has little memory of events.”
Trudell said he doesn’t expect McEnery will be able to manage his own care in the near future: “It’s very sad because he served the profession long and well.”
McEnery was called to the bar in 1974.
The law society tribunal did not receive any evidence of a new medical diagnosis for him, and McEnery did not attend the hearing.
The unusual case came to the attention of the law society in October 2015 when a former associate, Eric Williams, wrote the regulatory body and said two of McEnery’s legal assistants had approached him with concerns about “irregularities” with his practice.
(In a written statement, Williams said he shared office space and a legal banner with McEnery, but maintained separate clients along with separate trust and office accounts. Williams said his firm specialized in civil litigation while McEnery mostly practised real estate and commercial law.)
The law society assigned forensic auditor Hafsa Esmail to the case. She first met with McEnery in November 2015, but he “declined to answer whether funds were missing from his trust account.” Esmail subsequently sent official requests for his personal medical records, trust account statements and client files.
According to documents filed in the case, McEnery took some of those files out of the office and also attempted to remove an accounting computer. He later returned the missing files. The locks were changed on his office.
Law society investigators described the misconduct allegations against McEnery in a 40-page document that explored the complaints of 10 former clients. The experience of one man, identified only as TF, was typical.
TF retained McEnery to help him with the sale of one condominium and the purchase of another. In April 2015, TF met with McEnery to sign the closing papers and the lawyer asked him if he’d be interested in investing the proceeds in “bridge financing loans” that returned 7.5 per cent interest.
The loans, McEnery told him, would be backed by the value of his law firm’s office building (the firm did not own the building) and could be cashed with three months’ notice. Over the next few months, McEnery invested more than $387,000 in the scheme.
When he tried to cash in the investments to purchase his new condo, however, TF was told by McEnery that he had forgotten to recall the funds in time. TF had to borrow money to pay for his new condo in October 2015.
During the following weeks, TF pursued McEnery by email and phone in an attempt to get his money back, but the lawyer kept stalling. Finally, in a phone conversation on Nov. 20, McEnery told TF that he was suffering from memory problems as a result of a stroke and “didn’t recall what he had done with the funds he had received from TF in trust.”
The law society document says McEnery told investigators that the money was not invested in bridge financing, but he was unable to provide any information as to how it was used.
TF has launched a $387,000 claim against the society’s compensation fund.
查看原文...
