THUNDER BAY — Lawyer David Wallace Dubinsky's licence to practise remains suspended for administrative reasons, 16 months after the sanction was imposed by the Law Society of Ontario.
In the most recent development in the case, Dubinsky failed to attend–either in person or by phone–a conference the Law Society Tribunal held last week in Toronto.
The meeting concerned the tribunal's application for a hearing into unproven allegations he broke the Rules of Professional Conduct by failing to provide a prompt and complete response to written requests from LSO investigators.
According to a law society document, they're looking into several instances between 2016 and 2018 in which the LSO alleges Dubinsky "failed to serve his client to the standard of a competent lawyer."
In July 2018 an LSO tribunal initially determined he had failed to cooperate with law society investigations into unproven complaints regarding his conduct in two civil litigation matters.
At the time, it suspended Dubinsky's licence to practise law for one month on an administrative basis "and continuing indefinitely thereafter" until he provided a complete response to requests from a law society investigator.
He was also ordered to pay the LSO's costs of $6,000.
Dubinsky had requested a reprimand or a delay in the imposition of any suspension, stating that he had been in practice for 28 years with no prior discipline.
He told the tribunal he was "a hardworking, honest lawyer who 'hit a wall' about two years ago," causing many issues which he was attempting to resolve.
However, the tribunal relied on precedent in a 2017 LSO decision which stated "Tribunal penalties should be consistent. It is well-established that the failure to respond, where the licensee has no discipline history and has not completely responded by the hearing, is generally a one-month suspension, followed by an indefinite suspension."
Dubinsky's suspension continues to stand.
In the wake of the Nov. 4 conference he failed to participate in, the law society will now prepare and submit to him a set of written facts to make its case.
A spokesperson for the LSO said that if Dubinsky fails to respond within three weeks, he will be deemed to have accepted the truth of the facts, and that information will be used by its tribunal to make a decision on the matter.
The LSO currently serves as trustee of his professional business, by an order of the Superior Court of Justice.
Tbnewswatch.com was unable to reach Dubinsky for comment.
