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w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A Y 2 0 1 6 47 n 2012, less than two years into his fledgling career as a criminal defence lawyer, Lyle Howe found himself in a Halifax courtroom, one minute repre- senting a client on fraud charges, then moments later appearing in his own defence, before the same judge, on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman. "It's a first for me," quipped the then- 27-year-old Howe at the time. Over the next four years, things turned even more surreal. Howe was convicted in the sexual assault case — following a graphic, high- profile trial — stripped of his licence to practise law, sentenced to three years in prison, acquitted on appeal, and rein- stated as a practising lawyer. He was then brought before the Nova Scotia Bar- risters' Society on a raft of professional misconduct accusations unrelated to the criminal case, ranging from double- booking his time to trying to steal other lawyers' clients to the attempted extor- tion of a Crown witness. The NSBS hearings, at first public, were abruptly moved behind closed doors in January this year after Howe, acting in his own defence, threatened to subpoena a few judges whom he accused of mistreating him in their courtrooms because he is black. If most young, ambitious lawyers hope to launch their careers on a smooth upward trajectory — by not making waves within the profession, by follow- ing its rules, and getting along with senior practitioners (not to mention the judiciary) — Lyle Howe is the radical exception. Since joining the Nova Scotia Bar in 2010, Howe has become one of the best-known and most photographed lawyers in the province, perhaps for all the wrong reasons. And his notoriety isn't about to wane. Since his acquittal, Howe has poked a sharp stick at a place where the justice system and the legal profession in Nova Scotia have long been vulnerable. He claims his troubles are the result not L E G A L R E P O RT \ F O R E N S I C S & C R I M I N A L L AW HARRIS STUDIO The surreal case of Lyle Howe The Halifax counsel's claims of a racially biased justice system have made him one of the most notorious lawyers in the province. By Richard Foot I