Lately, many of my posts have been about lawyers who have shown professional misconduct in their practice. Does it beg the question that lawyers seen to be bigger law breakers than paralegals? Perhaps, but don't quote me on that. It's just a hypothetical.
This case in particular happens to be against a paralegal. He failed to respond to eight Law Society investigation, and he failed to produce books and records for five of those investigations. The Law Society tried to get in touch with him many times but he delayed his reply to those investigations.
Mr. Ebagua was also charged with trafficking drugs on two accounts in September 2011 and has a criminal sexual assault case pending against him. Beyond that he has a custody hearing with his ex-wife Ashley.
Mr. Ebagua claims that the reason why he had issues responding to the Law Society was because his office had flooded, destroying his files, he was dealing with the criminal charges against him that he believed were a conspiracy against him and he was getting sick physically and mentally because of everything he had to endure.
The Law Society Hearing Panel after assessing his evidence, did not buy into his excuses and found that all of his actions were done to delay the trial to get a date that was convenient for him. They revoked his license and ordered him to pay the costs of the Law Society's legal team of $25,900 in 6 months in which post-judgement interest would occur.
I applaud Mr. Ebagua for showing up to trial and representing himself but he had to have known that his excuses would be found invalid. The best thing to do is to co-operate with the Law Society. The Law Society of Upper Canada is just trying to protect the public from unscrupulous agents and society deserves honest representatives.
Take a look at this. Let me know what your three words are. Be honest with yourself and others around you. If you are looking to become a paralegal or lawyer be the best that you can be. Avoid problems because the penalties are not a walk in the park.