CANADA
Castanet
The Law Society of Alberta has disbarred a lawyer accused of misconduct in his handling of settlements awarded to survivors of residential school abuse.
David Blott had asked to be allowed to resign before the society’s investigation was complete.
The chairman of a panel hearing the application Friday made it clear to Blott that his resignation is the same as disbarment.
“The member is coming before the law society and has effectively said, ‘I will agree to be disbarred. I will resign with the conditions that equate with disbarment,'” Rob Harvie said.
“Some might suggest this is too little consequence for the conduct of the member. To this I would again affirm that, according to the law society, this is the most serious consequence that we have the authority to impose.”
The panel heard that between 2006 and 2012, Blott’s Calgary law firm handled almost 4,600 residential school claims, many in southern Alberta. Information was taken from each victim who would sign a retainer agreement. If the settlement were $100,000, Blott would receive $15,000 from the federal government and up to an additional $15,000 from the settlement payout.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.