Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
The Law Society of Ontario said it received a total of 28 complaints from clients of Michael Allison Constable beginning in 2020.
Constable handled family law and child protection cases but often failed to show up for hearings or communicate with clients.
“Many of the clients that Mr. Constable abandoned were vulnerable,” said the law tribunal’s decision.
“They needed him to provide them with legal advice to advance their rights and protect their interests. When they needed him, he failed to respond, failed to attend client meetings, failed to attend meetings with opposing counsel, failed to attend settlement conferences, and failed to attend court.”
In one case, Constable agreed to represent a woman and her husband – known in court documents as ‘Client B’ -- seeking access to their grandson after their son’s death.
He accepted $2,500 to represent them but waited too long to file the motion to add the access issue to an ongoing custody hearing, forcing Constable to make a separate court application.
The grandparents had trouble contacting Constable after that incident and had to settle for speaking with a law student who was writing the court application on their behalf.
In court, however, the judge rejected the application because it was riddled with errors.
“It was prepared on an improper form, bore the wrong application number and did not contain proper supporting documents,” the tribunal said.
When the judge advised the grandparents to speak with Constable about the application, they replied that was “impossible at times.”
Clients were 'discouraged and humiliated'
After that hearing, Constable suddenly withdrew as their lawyer, leaving his clients “discouraged and humiliated by the experience and decided not to pursue further legal action in relation to access to her grandson.”
In another case, a woman hired Constable to help her get a court order restricting her ex-spouse’s access to their children because she believed he was violent.
But after agreeing to take the case, Constable refused to take her calls or answer emails. Of the 36 emails she sent, he replied to only four and instead communicated with the client through his bookkeeper.
He failed to show up for a hearing June 1, 2021, which led to the woman’s ex-spouse gaining temporary access to the children.
After failing to attend court and file motion materials, Constable stopped responding to the woman in August of that year, forcing her to hire a new lawyer who had to scramble to salvage the case.
In another example, a woman was seeking an urgent order to increase the contribution from her ex-spouse for their daughter’s university education. When her ex-spouse made an offer, the client rejected it and told Constable to schedule a trial on the matter.
She later discovered he “had failed to file anything on her behalf with the court” and couldn’t account for how he spent the retainer she provided him.
Client shocked to find his office permanently closed
Constable was also the lawyer in “numerous” child protection cases, but “was frequently absent from court appearances without notice,” negatively affecting eight such cases.
Not all the cases involved child protection. A woman he was representing in an impaired driving case in October 2021 was shocked to find a warrant for her arrest had been issued because Constable failed to attend a court hearing in the case.
The woman went to his office, only to find that it was permanently closed. The warrant was eventually rescinded and she hired new legal representation.
In addition to interactions with clients, Constable also failed to cooperate with nine Law Society of Ontario investigations into his conduct.
“Mr. Constable failed to respond to any of the Law Society’s letters, emails or telephone calls about the nine investigations,” the tribunal’s decision said.
“The last direct contact with Mr. Constable was on Nov. 10, 2021, when a Law Society investigation counsel attended his office and hand-delivered a letter requesting information and a response. In total, 11 communications were sent to Mr. Constable by the Law Society in relation to the nine investigations. He failed to respond to any of them.”
Abandoned his law practice
He also abandoned his law practice without telling his clients, providing them with their case files or accounting for how their retainer money was spent.
“Mr. Constable not only abandoned his clients and his practice, he abandoned his staff,” the decision said.
“He left them to deal with his clients.”
In its decision to disbar Constable, the tribunal said his actions were particularly troublesome because of the vulnerability of his clients.
“They needed him to provide them with legal advice to advance their rights and protect their interests,” the tribunal said.
“He made meaningless and empty promises about filing materials necessary to advance and protect their interests. His actions caused actual prejudice to some of his clients.”
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
In addition to revoking his licence, the Law Society got an award for costs of $12,915. Constable was also ordered to refund his clients for the retainers he had not accounted for.
Read the full decision here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.