former justice minister jonathan denis to be sanctioned for code of conduct breach
former justice minister jonathan denis will face a sanc...
sep 12 2024
2 minute read
jonathan denis poses for a photo in his calgary law office.
postmedia file photo
former justice minister jonathan denis will face a sanction hearing after being convicted of two breaches of the legal profession act code of conduct by a law society of alberta committee panel.
in a lengthy ruling the three-member panel found denis’ conduct on two of his files amounted to breaches of the act.
“after reviewing all of the evidence and exhibits, and hearing the testimony and arguments of the lsa (counsel) and mr. denis for the reasons set out below, the committee finds mr. denis guilty of conduct deserving of sanction.”
denis was brought before the law society on allegations he was in a conflict of interest while acting for parties involved in a motor vehicle accident and for threatening to report a peace officer to her regulatory authority for the benefit of a client she had an affair with.
in the first case the father of a calgary teen asked denis to represent his daughter in connection with a car crash . but after receiving a police report about the incident months later, denis decided to represent the girl’s passenger instead.
the second citation dealt with an allegation denis threatened to report the woman, a peace officer who was on medical leave, to her regulatory authority if she didn’t stop contacting his client, who had an affair with her.
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in the first instance the panel found that denis received significant confidential information from the driver and her father “which he either failed to recognize or failed to relay to his firm’s conflict officer.”
“while mr. denis denies that he chose the better client because she had the better claim, public perception would likely see this differently,” they wrote.
“the committee finds that mr. denis committed significantly more than a ‘technical’ breach of the code.”
they also rejected arguments from denis’ lawyer, alain hepner, that the former justice minister’s conduct in that instance wasn’t deserving of sanction.
“he argues that good faith, sincerely held beliefs, and due diligence of the lawyer are evidence that the conduct will not reach the threshold of ‘marked departure’ of conduct expected of the lawyer and is therefore not deserving of sanction.
“the cases cited … do not support his arguments. inadvertence, good faith, honest but mistaken understanding and other non-willful conduct are not sufficient to avoid a finding of sanctionable conduct.”
in the second case denis was approached to help a couple after the husband’s extramarital affair with another woman ended and she had emailed the wife to tell her about the affair.
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denis sent the other woman a cease-and-desist email threatening to report her to her regulatory authority.
“whether called a warning or threat, whether reserved or not, raising the possibility of ‘reporting the matter as a violation of your code of conduct as part of your profession’ and ‘reporting this matter to your employer as a violation of your code of conduct as a peace officer’ are threats.”
a date for denis sanction hearing has not yet been set.
hepner said thursday he will have to review the lengthy ruling before deciding whether to appeal the ruling to a panel of law society benchers.
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