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Ethical or Unethical: An angry letter to the Judge

This session, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear an interesting appeal involving the case of Maître Gilles Doré.

Me. Doré is a Quebec lawyer, who wrote a personal letter to a judge complaining about how the judge had treated him in court. The judge then apparently then gave the letter to the Chief Justice of the Court, and the Barreau du Québec, which regulates lawyers in Quebec.

The Barreau suspended Me. Doré for 21 days.

Interestingly, the Canadian Judicial Council, to whom Me. Doré had also complained, issued the judge a severe reprimand, which suggests that Me. Doré’s complaint had merit.

Me. Doré appealed the Barreau’s finding to the Quebec Court of Appeal on constitutional grounds. He argued that if Quebec’s Professional Code, which governs lawyers, makes him subject to discipline for harshly criticizing a judge in a personal letter, then the Code violates his constitutional right to freedom of expression. The Court of Appeal disagreed, and upheld his suspension. Now, he’s taking his argument to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Me. Doré makes an interesting point.

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