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Lawyer loses licence for overcharging residential school survivors

The Law Courts building in downtown Winnipeg.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

The Law Courts building in downtown Winnipeg.

A Winnipeg lawyer lost his licence to practise law permanently after pleading guilty to overcharging residential school survivors who were owed compensation for the abuse they suffered as children. And those adults, 55 of them, will get every penny they are owed returned to them.

Howard Tennenhouse fought the law society in court and ignored instructions from the federal agency in charge of paying out compensation not to overcharge clients.

The case against him dragged out for almost a year, even after Tennenhouse’s bid to the courts to dismiss the investigation against him failed to win him a reprieve.

In the end, Tennenhouse submitted a guilty plea that was tabled with the Law Society of Manitoba at a formal hearing held Tuesday. And he agreed he owed his clients nearly $1 million.

Tennenhouse’s name was protected under the law society’s disciplinary rules until the hearing for his misconduct charges. Under the legislation that governs the licensing body for lawyers, Tennenhouse’s name is now public and will be published in the law society’s publications, along with his guilty plea. Then it will be struck from the rolls forever, the disciplinary hearing ruled.

History

Updated on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 1:02 PM CST: corrects typo

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