Since I last wrote about this matter, it looked as though my client had little recourse but to see the vendor in court. However, in an odd turn of events, this matter was resolved to the satisfaction of my client.

At the end of the day, I believe that the parties spent more than $1,000 combined in this process, when it simply could have been avoided if the vendor had chosen better representation. Even though I commend the efforts of all counsel involved in this transaction, counsel for the vendor, in my view, made several critical errors.

First, the vendor's original lawyer (I'll call her Lawyer 1) had decided not to recall the law she learned in law school. Even if she believed what she was writing, something could have been said to her client to get to the ultimate result faster and cheaper. I question if she was truly looking out for their interest or simply finding a way to pad her bill.

Second, when the new lawyer for the vendor (I'll call him Lawyer 2) sent me the documentation, he effectively killed the shaky argument that Lawyer 1 had attempted to lay the ground work for. At first I did not know what he had planned, but as time progressed, it was clear he did not know what he was doing.

Finally, Lawyer 2 ignored even basic elements of civil litigation outlined in the Rules of Civil Procedure. He attempted to make statements and rely on certain provisions of the Rules of Civil Procedure without being in compliance with them or even capturing the underlying intent of the Rules.

Besides the vendor, Lawyer 1 and Lawyer 2 had something in common: They were foreign trained lawyers, meaning that they were educated outside of Canada. Luckily, things worked out for them.

This post isn't intended to be a knock against foreign trained lawyer (I have many friends who were trained outside of Canada and are very capable lawyers), but it does highlight some issues that may arise when dealing with lawyers who possess credentials from places of unknown quality. I recognize the Law Society of Upper Canada does have some requirement for foreign trained lawyers to seek additional education in order to obtain a licence in Canada, but there is a big difference in preparing for an exam and having to learn the legal principles from a law program in Canada.

 

I believe that stricter guidelines for admitting foreign trained lawyer to the bar in Ontario should be considered as it is not difficult to find a common law program outside of Canada. Whether those degrees will be recognized, however, is another matter on its own. However, may states in the United States have very strict guidelines for foreign trained lawyers. There's no reason Ontario can't be more strict about it.