The Law Society of Saskatchewan has once again cracked down on a North Battleford-based lawyer.
The Law Society of Saskatchewan has suspended Lori Gollan, based in North Battleford, for five months.
She entered a guilty plea Jan. 8 of conduct unbecoming a lawyer in a hearing before the Law Society. The suspension runs from Feb. 1 of this year. In addition, she must pay costs of $6,190 within one year of her return to practice.
The ruling means Gollan is not entitled to practise law at the moment. However, she is not disbarred.
The decision on the penalty was handed down by a hearing committee of the Law Society Feb. 3. A notice of suspension regarding Gollan was issued to all Law Society members Feb. 11.
According to the agreed statement of facts filed in the case, which was published and is available on the Law Society's website, Gollan admitted that she:
1. did fail to reply to communications from a fellow member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan, C.H., within a reasonable time;
2. did fail to act with utmost good faith to the court in the connection with an application for probate she filed on the estate E.K. by submitting an application for probate that contained misleading information;
3. did fail to act with utmost good faith to a fellow member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan, C.H., in connection with an application for probate she filed on the estate of E.K. by submitting the application for probate on behalf of only one of two joint executors, without notifying C.H., who was, at the time, actively representing the other joint executor; and;
4. did fail to act with utmost good faith to a member of the public, D.K., a joint executor named in the last will and testament of E.K., by obtaining letters probate on behalf of the other joint executor then participating in the transfer of assets without the knowledge of D.K., while she knew or ought to have known that D.K. was not prepared to renounce as an executor."
Full details of the allegations and the decision can be found at the Law Society's website at www.lawsociety.sk.ca/lawyer-regulation, under the tab entitled "discipline decisions." Gollan has been a member of the Law Society since 2002. Until now, she had no disciplinary history.
Gollan is not the only member of the bar in North Battleford to run afoul of the Law Society in recent months.
Dec. 11, Kevan Migneault was placed on an interim suspension by the Law Society and is also not entitled to practise law. An amended formal complaint against Migneault was filed with the Law Society on Feb. 3. No hearing date has been announced as of yet in his case.
