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The Law Society of Ontario says Jim Battin violated Ontario’s Legal Aid rules but the 75-year-old Tillsonburg lawyer says he was trying to help a client who had been abandoned by the system.
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The governing body revoked Battin’s licence on May 15, saying he took almost $12,000 from a former client’s trust fund in violation of Legal Aid rules. Battin has since repaid the client.
Battin has practised law in Ontario for 45 years without facing discipline from the society. When contacted by Postmedia, his office said he has no comment on the matter.
The lawyer has a long history of community involvement, helping non-profits and charities, serving politically and sitting as a deputy judge in the Ontario Small Claims Court.
He recently has been the defence lawyer for former Woodstock Mayor Trevor Birtch, who stands accused of sexual assault.
But his case with the Law Society, which has been ongoing since 2019, accuses him of failing to “conduct himself with integrity” by circumventing Legal Aid’s billing process, improperly privately billing a Legal Aid client and making misleading statements to Legal Aid and the client.
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In response to the Law Society, Battin said the complaint from his former client was a lie and her victim impact statement “totally outlandish.”
He said his client, who was seeking a divorce, knowingly agreed to pay him privately and, while she still had a Legal Aid certificate for legal work to be done, she had been denied additional time to fight her court case.
Battin said the woman was responsible for failing to cancel that certificate, ending her contract with Legal Aid before entering into a private arrangement with him.
But the Law Society believed the complainant, who said that wasn’t true, and said it’s specifically prohibited by Legal Aid rules to enter into such a private deal.
The society said Battin took $11,849.65 from a trust account to pay himself what he felt was owed and only paid it back when pushed by the society.
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Those funds were in a trust from the sale of the woman’s former home and were supposed to help repay some of the legal costs fronted by Legal Aid, said the society, while admitting a lien should have been put on the home to ensure that happened.
“The lawyer’s conduct reflects a lack of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness,” said the decision against Battin.
“It was undertaken deliberately in violation of well-established rules. It was done for his personal gain, to the detriment of a vulnerable LAO client.”
The society said Battin hadn’t come up with any reasons or excuses for his behaviour and instead blamed the Legal Aid system and the woman who complained.
“Unfortunately, this gives us no comfort that his misconduct is out-of-character or unlikely to recur,” said the society.
“The only disposition possible here is immediate revocation of licence.”
In addition, the society ordered that Battin pay it $44,135 for the 135.8 hours legal staff spent on the case, an amount that doesn’t include other investigation expenses.
SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble
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