“There’s something happening here,” Stephen Stills once wrote. “What it is ain’t exactly clear.” Here in this case is inside the traditionally somnambulant corridors of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, the august and privileged self-governing body, which “regulates Nova Scotia’s legal profession… [and exists] to uphold and protect public interest in the practice of...
Reckoning with racism
Following the death of George Floyd, the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society joined much of the rest of the world in declaring itself against anti-Black racism. But the society now must grapple with its own recent history and what lawyer Laura McCarthy calls the "discrimination dirt still under their rug."
On June 3, 2020, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society released an unremarkably remarkable statement. It happened 10 days after cellphone cameras captured white police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota gruesomely killing an unarmed Black man named George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. His death had triggered protests in cities across North America and prompted a...
Examineradio 127: Stephen Kimber on Lyle Howe
This week, Halifax Examiner contributor Stephen Kimber explains the latest development in the Lyle Howe saga. Also, Tim and Terra talk Proud Boys, Bob Bjerke and Peter Kelly. (direct download) (RSS feed) (Subscribe via iTunes)
Bar Society says Lyle Howe should be disbarred, ordered to pay $500,000
The bar society argues Howe should now suffer the ultimate legal punishment — not being allowed to practise the profession for which he trained — and also be shackled with a debt he may never be able to repay, in Catch-22 part because he is not allowed to practise his profession.
The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society wants Lyle Howe not only disbarred from practising law for at least five years, but it says he should also have to pay between $450-600,000 of the costs of the disciplinary hearing against him. The society estimates its total cost in the case at $1.1 million — a figure that...
Who’s going to fix our broken criminal justice system?
The panel’s perhaps self-evident but nonetheless shocking admission: there are only a “limited number of people” — almost all of them with “substantial social and financial resources” — who can hire lawyers who have the time and resources to represent them fully and adequately in the criminal justice system.
“The evidence has therefore made it clear to us that it can be unfair to expect that a brass knuckle possession, or breach of recognizance, or theft-under file for a repeat offender currently in custody being dealt with on a legal aid certificate will have the same level of file management and documentation as the...
The Lyle Howe case: guilty, but…
To its credit, the panel did not shy away from the implications of the fact the bar society was “seeking formal discipline against a member of the African Nova Scotian community.” But then what?
The CBC headline — “Halifax Lawyer Lyle Howe Found Guilty of Professional Misconduct, Incompetence” — was simple. And it is accurate. So far as it goes. But the actual 140-page decision by a bar society disciplinary panel… IN THE MATTER OF: The Legal Profession Act, S.N.S. 2004, c. 28 and the Regulations of the Nova...
Lyle Howe and the bar society’s Plan B
If the panel hearing the professional misconduct charges against Howe decides he is guilty of any, some, or all of the original seven charges against him, he could be disbarred. If, on the other hand, the panel decides he isn’t guilty of all — or most — of those charges... well, what then?
If you fear you might not succeed on your first try, you should have a Plan B already neatly tucked in your back pocket. In advance. Just in case. That would seem to be the way the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society is now approaching “IN THE MATTER OF the Legal Profession Act and the Nova...
Trains, planes, and automobiles (and a hilarious horse): Morning File, Wednesday, March 29, 2017
News 1. I Like Trains Really, I do! But that thing they’re talking about running around downtown ain’t no train. The Disneyfication of downtown continues apace. I don’t have the heart to write about it… read Jacob Boon in The Coast. 2. 40 kph speed limits “Halifax city council may be asking the province to lower speed […]
Court Watch: Judge Lenehan gets mad
In Court Repeat sex offender gets shut down by Judge Lenehan Judge Gregory Lenehan won’t be back in the public’s good books for some time, after his comments on sexual assault and consent and the acquittal of Bassam Al-Rawi. But I think readers will still enjoy Steve Bruce’s account of Judge Lenehan absolutely shutting down...
Court Watch: the Rehtaeh Parsons case reverberates in the Bridgewater intimate image decision
In Court Jury can’t decide on Kobylanski A Halifax Supreme Court jury could not reach a decision on most of Michael Kobylanski’s charges on Thursday. The jury found him guilty of assault and not guilty of choking, but could not decide on his charges of sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, uttering threats, and...