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Lawyer forged my signature and suing in small claims!

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  • Lawyer forged my signature and suing in small claims!

    I am just looking for some direction on what my next course of action will be. Long story short, a lawyer I had retained, terminated the agreement, and although I had honored all terms of our signed retainer agreement, slapped a solicitors lien on my file, submitted as per our contract and none of which was created by her. I informed the office that I had filed a complaint with the LSUC which is still ongoing... And then she served me with Small claims suit for a inflated balance owing, and not our contacted agreement, and when responding to LSUC, after multiple requests for a reply as she ignored their communication, her answer submitted has a totally different supposed agreement, different amount owing etc.
    Here is the kicker....
    In her submission to LSUC, she included a chronology of events. In this document, that ANYONE could type up in 5 minutes, among other inconsistancies, she states that on May 30,2012 I attended her office and SIGNED a Notice of Change of Representation document, of which she faxed to the Trial Coordinators office and also included the fax sent, but of course no copy of what I supposedly signed!!!
    I DID NOT SIGN THAT DOCUMENT!!!!
    She has since closed her family law practice and according to the letter received is now acting as duty cousel for criminal court.
    I was referred to her by a Womens Shelter... I can only imagine how many people she has taken advantage their vulnerability.
    What action options do I have?
    What disciplinary action can the LSUC take if any?
    Is there anywhere that I can search compliats filed by others against her or cases she has been a party to?
    Please advise..

  • #2
    Sorry to hear of your experiences with an unethical lawyer. As far as I know, law societies really don't do anything more than give the offending lawyer remedial reading or small fines. You can certainly counter sue her. If your signature was forged I would go directly to your local police station and have them investigate (be sure to get the police file number). There are a number of criminal charges she would be facing if she forged your signature.

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    • #3
      Did the LSUC open an investigation, and on what grounds?

      You won't have access to any info available to determine if anyone else has filed a complaint about her.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by baclayton View Post
        Is there anywhere that I can search compliats filed by others against her or cases she has been a party to?
        Please advise..
        first thing you should do before retain any lawyer is to go to
        The Law Society of Upper Canada - Lawyer and Paralegal Directory

        enter last name, select your lawyer if there is several with the same last name and than look for info provided. and in particular Discipline History. Fro example one which first come to my mind has this thing.

        This member has a Discipline History on file, details are here.

        Hope this will help
        WD

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        • #5
          It must have to be pretty bad if there's any disciplinary action noted. There was a 10 month investigation on my former lawyer (not re: Family Court) for "Suspicion of Professional Misconduct" and they (LSUC) were provided with evidence of the lawyer's actions, by me and in the end their slap on the wrist of "Best Practice/Remedial Reading) never made it onto the public file.

          Given the way this lawyer behaved with me (and with 40 yrs experience) it's a little hard for me to believe that there had never been a previous misconduct issue. In my experience, they can get away with quite a bit.

          Hopefully the OP will be able to access some info that will help.

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