Canadian Lawyer

Discipline ruling highlights issue of racism in the profession A decision by the Law Society of Upper Canada that considered a black lawyer's disadvantage in his articling experiences could hold the key to a frank discussion on systemic discrimination in the profession, say some lawyers. Although the LSUC found Toronto lawyer Selwyn McSween guilty of profes- sional misconduct for "completely abdi- cating his professional responsibility" to an allegedly unscrupulous law clerk, dis- senting appeal panellists Clayton Ruby and Constance Backhouse acknowledged the 66-year-old faced "systemic disadvan- tages" that eventually led him to hire the clerk and ultimately to "an increased risk of disbarment." "We cannot close our eyes to the dis- proportionate number of black lawyers whom we find before us faced with very grave professional misconduct allega- tions," Ruby wrote in the dissenting opin- ion for Law Society of Upper Canada v. McSween. "The legal profession has made no concerted effort to rid itself of the rac- ism inherent in the practice. The effects of racial inequality are real, not imagined, and we do the public no favour by refusing to acknowledge them." In 2010, McSween, a budding real estate lawyer and former investigator with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, had his licence to practise law revoked after the law society found he knowingly assisted in 10 fraudulent mortgage trans- actions allegedly initiated by law clerk Maureen French. McSween had hired NEW Canadian Lawyer House Ad.indd 6 French after a difficult start in the profes- sion that included more than 50 failed attempts to secure articling positions. But shortly after hiring French in 2004, the clerk allegedly began a series of fraudulent mortgage transactions, which McSween argued he knew nothing about. McSween alleged French, whom he had employed to teach him about real estate law between 2004 and 2005 when the fraudulent activity took place, had duped him. In his view, his race prevented him from securing meaningful articling positions that would have given him the experience necessary to run a successful real estate practice, ultimately leading him to employ French in order to learn about the profession. Viewable on your desktop, iPad, Android phone & more DIGITAL EDITION canadianlawyermag.com/ canadian-lawyer-digital-edition.html www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com M A RCH 2012 9 14/12/11 11:25 AM C ontinued on pa g e 10

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