Canadian Lawyer

18 J U N E 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m The LSA rules say that you cannot resign in the face of an unresolved com- plaint without special permission. Res- ignation without permission is regarded as the equivalent of disbarment. The argument is that to permit unilateral resignation if complaints are outstand- ing would allow a lawyer to escape the society's disciplinary jurisdiction. The Ontario bar, and I think the bar of every other province, has similar rules. So Levant was trapped in the unwanted and clammy embrace of the Law Society of Alberta. Quite reason- ably, he said he would only resign if pending complaints against him were dismissed and he could leave the pro- fession unbesmirched. Levant calls the complaints to the law society about his conduct "nuisance complaints." He says they are "free shots" by his political opponents. He points out that anyone who objected to his views expressed as a journalist on his web site, in newspaper articles, or on television could tie him up in knots and inflict expense by complaining to the LSA. Over the years, 26 people did exactly that. Of those, 24 were dismissed, leav- ing two outstanding until recently. A number of the complaints were about Levant's criticism of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. He has called the commission "crazy" and criticized sev- eral of its officials. Levant has said the LSA "has become a magnet for every nuisance litigant, crank, and shakedown artist in the country." In March, the law society finally accepted Levant's resignation, saying that to do so "was in the best interests of the public." It summarily dismissed the two outstanding complaints against him. No doubt LSA officials heaved a mighty sigh of relief when Levant left town. Levant thinks he knows why the law society decided in his favour. "They want to stop being forced to read my newspaper columns and watch my vid- eos as part of their job." My guess is that from the get-go the law society had no enthusiasm for disciplining Levant but was trapped by its own rules. zra Levant is a conservative media commentator or, if you prefer, an over- the-top right-wing rabble-rouser. He thrives on controversy and conflict. He feeds the flames of intemperance. He's always having a fight with somebody. He's rude. He makes people angry and delights in doing so. He's scoffed at by flaneurs in what American public intellectual David Brooks calls the "corridors of the cognoscenti." He's not to be taken seriously, the flaneurs say. Maybe they're right. Maybe they're not. Levant was a lawyer. He was, until recently, a member of the Law Society of Alberta, although he hasn't practised law or lived in Alberta for some time, earning his living as a Toronto-based journalist. For years, he wanted to resign from the Alberta bar, but the rules made that difficult. For almost a decade, a lot of people, including other lawyers, made formal complaints to the law society about things Levant said and wrote, and in particular about his lack of "professional courtesy." L E G A L E T H I C S O P I N I O N @philipslayton DUSHAN MILIC Telling it like it is The case of Ezra Levant highlights the misplaced belief of law societies that prize courtesy over freedom. By Philip Slayton E LEVANT WAS TRAPPED IN THE UNWANTED AND CLAMMY EMBRACE OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF ALBERTA.

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