Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis guilty of professional misconduct: law society

Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis has been found guilty of two counts of professional misconduct, and the Law Society of Alberta (LSA) says he is deserving of sanction.

Following a hearing earlier this year, the committee released its decision Thursday, finding that the former MLA is guilty "based on clear, cogent and convincing evidence."

"Mr. Denis's conduct was a marked departure of the conduct expected of a lawyer."

A date for the panel to consider sanctions has not yet been set.

Denis contemplatingnext step

Denis' lawyer Alain Hepner wouldn't rule out appealing the LSA's decision.

"The lengthy decision will be reviewed by Mr. Denis and I in contemplating our next step," said Hepner.

• Former Alberta justice minister waits to learn if conduct deserving of law society sanction

Denis, who opened a law firm after losing his seat in the 2015 provincial election, was cited last year by the law society for incidents in 2020 and 2021.

The charges faced by Denis involve two separate sets of allegations.

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In the first count, Denis is accused of acting in a conflict of interest when he represented two families whose teenage daughters one the driver, the other the passenger had been involved in a car crash.

After the crash, one of the girls the driver gave a statement to Denis, and her father sent photos of the crash scene to the lawyer.

Months after their initial meeting, Denis served that family with a lawsuit on behalf of the passenger's family.

Denis testified that he never received the email from the father containing a detailed statement and photographs of the crash scene.

'Serving his own interests'

But emails presented by the father show that within six minutes of his email, Denis sent one flagging a potential "liability issue" regarding a left-hand turn.

"It is hard to conceive, given his own testimony, how Mr. Denis could have provided that response he did without receiving and reviewing the statement and photographs which are clearly and obviously confidential information," the committee wrote.

Denis admitted a "technical" breach of the law society's code of conduct but the committee ruled the breach was "substantial."

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In acting for the passenger, the committee found Denis "not only breached his ongoing duty of loyalty to [the passenger], but there was a significant risk of potential misuse of confidential information."

"While Mr. Denis denies that he chose the better client because she had the better claim, public perception would likely see this differently," reads a passage in the 40-page decision.

"Viewed from the perception of the public, Mr. Denis ceased to act for the client with a challenging liability issue in favour of a client with no liability issue and in this respect was serving his own interests and not his clients."

Denis 'made a threat'

In the second citation, Denis is accused of threatening a woman's employment on behalf of a client who had dated her.

After the woman learned the man she'd been dating one of Denis's clients was married, she contacted the wife to let her know about her husband's infidelity.

Denis then sent a cease-and-desist email to the woman, threatening to tell her employer she had violated its code of conduct.

The LSA found the two emails to the woman from Denis "contain clear evidence that Mr. Denis twice made a threat."

The Act is clear, said the committee "if the complaint is justified, it should be made, not threatened."

"Clearly his focus was not on protecting the public interest by making a disciplinary complaint, but on the potential civil remedies available should [the woman] not comply with the demand."