The Law Society of Ontario is authorized to investigate, adjudicate and impose sanctions on lawyers and paralegals for professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a licensee. (Law Society Act, RSO 1990, c L.8; Hearings before the Hearing and Appeal Divisions, O Reg 167/07).
In 2014, the Law Society Tribunal was established to hear disciplinary matters. Cases are heard in the Hearing Division (formerly Law Society Hearing Panel) and may be appealed to the Appeal Division (formerly Law Society Appeal Panel). Tribunal adjudicators are benchers and other appointees, including lawyers, paralegals and public members.
This research guide covers sources of both full-text discipline decisions and older decision summaries, and provides a few tips for searching these sources.
While the primary focus of this guide is on Ontario decisions, a chart showing coverage of discipline decisions from all Canadian jurisdictions on CanLII and Lexis+™ Canada can be found under the Online Availability tab.