A Windsor, Ont., real estate lawyer convicted of tax evasion last year could be one step closer to disbarment after appearing before a Law Society of Upper Canada committee Jan. 9. Kevin Fanick pleaded guilty to more than $23,000 in evaded taxes before Ontario Court Justice Mitch Hoffman last June. He was fined $23,542 — the amount of taxes he owed through either GST rebates or taxes in 2004, 2005 and 2006, according to a Canada Revenue Agency
report.
Seven months later, Fanick’s licence was suspended indefinitely by the LSUC. According to a
notice of application filed by the LSUC in December, he was charged with professional misconduct after the regulatory agency learned of his tax evasion conviction.
Fanick is set to attend an LSUC practice management conference Monday, said LSUC spokesperson Susan Tonkin. A hearing date will be set and any adjournments could be filed with the LSUC practice management committee during that time.
At the hearing, Fanick will face allegations by the LSUC that he violated the Law Society Act by failing to report to the LSUC that he’d been charged with 17 offences under the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act in Feb. 2009, and an additional five offences under the same acts in June of last year.
The law society also contends Fanick failed to serve the Royal Bank of Canada and RTC, his clients, by not communicating with them regarding several issues he was retained to litigate.
In the notice, the LSUC also alleges Fanick failed to respond to “at least 20 letters, six emails, seven faxes, and four voice messages” from the regulatory regarding two complaints by his client, Royal Bank of Canada, one complaint by RTC, one complaint by client KS, and three complaints by the LSUC between April 2010 and May 2011.
Fanick will also face allegations that he failed to produce books and records requested by the LSUC in five letters between January 2011 and May 2011 during the hearing. The date of that hearing will be set during the LSUC proceedings management conference Monday. The hearing will determine whether Fanick engaged in professional misconduct and “conduct unbecoming of a licensee.”
Update Jan. 9 with proper name of LSUC proceedings.
