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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 J U N E 2 0 1 6 13 A lberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Sheilah Martin in her recent judgment in Luft v. Zink- hofer details the extraordinary misadventures of a former Calgary lawyer and his years of persistent, unprofessional, and, at times, criminal misconduct. The case was a lawsuit brought by two former clients, Donald and Susan Luft. They argued they had been duped by their law- yer into believing he was vigorously repre- senting them in a lawsuit when, in fact, he was elaborately faking it. Their lawyer was Fred Zinkhofer. Called to the bar in 1979, Zinkhofer appears to have practised law successfully until around 1988. That is when, court records show, he began to lie to a client and forge legal documents to convince the client he was actively working on the case. The forgeries included fabricating a copy of a Court of Appeal decision, and, on another occasion, producing a faked transcript from court proceedings that never took place. This outrageous behaviour finally led, in 1992, to a complaint to the Law Society of Alberta. But Zinkhofer was not dis- barred; instead, he was placed on the inac- tive list. However, in 1995, after being rep- rimanded and fined, the LSA allowed him to return to active practice but required him to rewrite his bar exams. Satisfying the law society was one thing, but the issue of the doctored court documents did not go away. In 1998, almost a decade later, Zinkhofer was criminally charged and convicted of forg- ery and uttering forged documents. He submitted he had an "addiction to alcohol," but was nevertheless sentenced to three months in jail to be served on weekends. During his periodic incarceration, he continued to represent his existing clients including the Lufts. They had hired him to pursue a defamation suit against a neighbour. In spite of the jail sentence and being disciplined by the law society, Zink- hofer did not change his deceitful ways. As Martin pointed out, he "pretended he was doing many things, while not informing the Lufts of his multiple failures to act." On one occasion, in an effort to con- vince them of his diligence, he staged an entirely false examination. He had to because he had never filed the Lufts' defa- mation lawsuit in the first place. In what Martin characterized as "pure theatre," he booked a room and a court reporter, 'LIES, FABRICATIONS, MISREPRESENTATIONS': COURT SLAMS DISBARRED LAWYER \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ P R A I R I E S \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP W E S T Read the full tale of Zinkhofer's escapades in the ruling at canlii.ca/t/gp1c9. Continued on page 14 OsgoodePD has been approved as an Accredited Provider of Professionalism Content by the LSUC. A WORLD LEADER IN LAW SCHOOL LIFELONG LEARNING LEARN FROM LEADING MINDS Consider your goals, time and budget and we are sure to have a program that suits you. From one or two-day courses, FHUWLoFDWHV//0VLQJOHFRXUVHV and online programs, we have what you need to further your professional development. Join our community and take your legal expertise and skills to the next level. Now is your time. osgoodepd.ca/yourprogram Untitled-4 1 2016-05-12 2:02 PM

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