Caveat Emptor!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post, "Scammed by a lawyer and a law society?": 

Defiantly scammed by Attorney and went to the Law Society of Winnipeg and all they did was put a note in his file! Now this is after years of fighting a family law/divorce matter and nothing did I get! No full financials, lost my home, lost my profitable business, no assets, no money to live on, never once saw a Magistrate, nothing at all! My estranged wife sold, liquidated, junked all assets, Embezzled monies of well over $750,000 and was able to get away with it all! I am now on another attorney to clear up a mess that literally has been ongoing since 12/2011!

This "attorney" has several complaints and nothing is ever done. Something is very wrong. Winnipeg, Manitoba courts I use to believe in and now I have no faith, as well as, with our Law Society.

Negligence get an Attorney..Laughable when you finally get somewhere with the Law Society you are basically homeless and penniless! So, how do you Sue an attorney who played the used car salesman role perfectly and was responsible for all your losses but,the Law Society doesn't help with negligence while you are penniless and homeless!

Dear Anonymous: 

Wow! Where to begin? Believe it or not things are a lot better now when dealing with the Law Society of Manitoba. Believe it or not, previously it was not even obliged to tell prospective clients if one of there members had been or was the subject of an investigation. However, the province passed legislation last year requiring it to do so. Past f... ups because of this were well documented in the media. While The Society's mandate clearly states it is to self-regulate the "profession" sometimes one must wonder how effective it is is so doing.

If you take a close look at The Society you will find the real power lies with the various internal committees made up of "benchers" who've been in place for a long time so while Chief Executive Officer Kristin Dangerfield may wish to implement certain changes in many ways her hands are tied.

One of your best protections is to learn to navigate your way around The Society's webpage. It now contains a wealth of information if you know where to look. For example, it lists both alphabetically and chronologically disciplinary actions taken against members and/or those pending. In the past CyberSmokeBlog has always found its General Legal Counsel Rocky Kravetsky to be most helpful.

Hope this helps and sorry to hear about your plight.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk