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BALANCE PRECARIOUS A T. SHER SINGH HAS BEEN DISBARRED BUT SAYS BURNOUT HAD LED HIM TO LEAVE THE PROFESSION ANYWAY. FOR HIM AND OTHER SMALL-FIRM AND SOLE PRACTITIONERS, THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS THEY FACE STEM MORE FROM THE NATURE OF THEIR PRACTICES THAN NEGLIGENCE. BY JENNIFER MCPHEE prominent Guelph, Ont.-based lawyer and Sikh community icon had done wonderful work for him — hundreds of thousands of dollars of work over the better part of a de- cade — and working with Singh was a posi- tive experience, he says. "It just didn't make sense to me, personally, having dealt with him," he says. "It sounded . . . ridiculous." Indeed, the 58-year old sole practitioner T and longtime race relations advocate, who was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2002 (his status is currently un- der review), had an outstanding reputation as a lawyer and was also well known for his community work and journalistic endeav- ours. So it came as a shock to many when he was suspended in 2005 and eventually disbarred on Sept. 11, 2007. Singh lost his licence to practise for a host of reasons, including failing to serve clients, mishandling trust funds, misappropriat- ing $2,000 from a client, failing to comply with an earlier order requiring him to pay $4,000 to a client and $2,000 in costs to the 30 FEBRU AR Y 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com oronto businessman Birinder Ahluwalia was surprised when he read in a newspaper that his former lawyer Tapishar (Sher) Singh had been disbarred. The law society, and failing to respond to com- munications from the Law Society of Upper Canada. He did not defend himself and was not at his hearing. Over blackcurrent tea at his eclectic apart- ment in Guelph, Singh says he did noth- ing wrong. He says that adrenalin-fuelled, 18-hour days combined with the constant conflict and the highs and lows that come with litigation had left him burned out. His work as a litigator was deeply satisfying but also deeply exhausting. He began feeling burned out 10 years ago and knew he had to leave the profession, but it never seemed like a good time. "I was already a sole prac- titioner then," he says. "I had clients heavily dependent on me, emotionally tied to what I was doing. I also felt I was doing very good work for them . . . I kept waiting for these big cases to finish so I could move on. I should have been more surgical." To preserve his health, he says he finally closed his practice in 2005 after winning a big case. He insists his burnout did not im- pact his practice, that he performed his work with integrity until the very end, and did his best work in the last two years of his career. "I have never, ever let a single client down." He did not defend himself at his discipline hearing, he says, because he had moved on by then and could not cope with another legal DEAN PALMER