Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 29 "I told them I was happy to leave so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore, and hung up." LU CHAN KHUONG a.m., in what both sides say was a short, tense, and terse conference call, they asked the new president to resign. "I flatly refused," said Khuong. "They told me to stay by the phone, that they would con- tinue to analyze my case and get back to me." When they called back around 3 p.m., it was to inform Khuong they had passed a resolution to suspend her, effectively immediately, with pay but without access to her office or her electronic files. "I told them I was happy to leave so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore, and hung up," recalled Khuong. "But I was very angry. I remember thinking, 'What kind of people are they?' Did I cry? No, I don't cry. I don't sleep and I don't cry." The barreau soon released a statement, announcing the suspen- sion. "The facts and comments connected to this private situation are incompatible with the functions of the president of the Quebec Bar," it read. "Considering that the primary mission of the Quebec Bar is the protection of the public, and that the bâtonnière is an important symbol that helps to maintain public confidence in the institution, the board of directors had no choice but to take such firm action." The news reverberated across Quebec like a shockwave, trig- gering a weeks-long tsunami of accusations, recriminations, insinu- ations, and lawsuits that engulfed and submerged the legal profes- sion, all of it under the glare of the media spotlight and before a bewildered and titillated public. Khuong's many supporters, including several high-profile law- yers, cried foul. They notably accused the barreau's board of direc- tors of failing to respect the rules of natural law. "Her suspension was entirely inconsistent with the principle of the presumption of innocence," eminent Montreal jurist Julius Grey told Canadian Lawyer. "It's a simple premise: No one can be removed from office for criminal reasons without a fair trial. Our society doesn't punish people for appearances; accusations must be proven. That's what protects us all." Some suggested the board surpassed the powers prescribed to it by the Act Respecting the Barreau du Québec, the Professional Code, and the Civil Code of Québec. Finn Makela, a law profes- sor at the Université de Sherbrooke, said nothing in the three laws "comes close" to allowing the board of a professional regulator to either remove or suspend its president. Others blamed the situation on the barreau's new system of gov- ernance. "This sad and unprecedented episode is a result of the defi- ciencies and lack of legitimacy of Bill 17," said Julie Latour, a former bâtonnière of the Barreau de Montréal and in-house counsel with Loto-Québec, who spoke out against the new law before it passed the National Assembly in December. Enacted in May, it reduced the number of seats and recast the composition of both the Barreau du Québec's board of directors and the new sections council. It also provided for the bâtonnier and other directors to be elected for two- year terms by universal suffrage, and added a second vice president. Latour slammed the new model as being too corporate and opaque. She said the barreau's executive committees were tradi- tionally comprised de facto of the presidents of the Montreal and Quebec City bar councils, while the general council consisted of the presidents from the province's 15 regional bar councils, who were delegated by their respective associations. "The old system was more transparent and more deeply rooted in the local bar system," said Latour. "It ensured wider consultations, and decisions were made only after the bâtonniers had talked with their local councils. "That's no longer the case," she added. "The procedure of checks and balances in the decision-making process has disappeared. Board members are now free to make decisions on their own." For her part, Khuong maintained her innocence and claimed to be the victim of both a miscarriage of justice and a conspiracy by mutiny-minded board members loyal to her only rival, Luc Deshaies, in the recent election. She also suggested their big-firm backers were eager to get revenge against her and her husband, a political maverick whose accusations of influence peddling and corruption in the Quebec Liberal government he served in under former premier Jean Charest had led to the 2010 Bastarache com- mission of inquiry. "I will not be distracted by a few individuals who, by illegal and immoral means, attempt to sabotage the election result," Khuong said then. And she threatened legal action if the board did not rescind "it's mistake" by overturning the suspension and issuing an apology. Layers of intrigue To be sure, the optics of the situation only added to the onion-like layers of issues and possible intrigue that surrounded Khuong's election and subsequent suspension. During the first five months of 2015, she and Deshaies had waged an intense, and at times bit- ter, campaign for the hearts and minds of Quebec lawyers. Though she had a long experience in the bar, Khuong, a former president

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