‘Ungovernable’ Winnipeg lawyer loses licence to practise law in Manitoba

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A Winnipeg lawyer who had a secret trust fund and continued to take on new clients while suspended has been disbarred by the Law Society of Manitoba.

Chaman Deep Badohal, who was called to the bar June 20, 2019, was officially disbarred Dec. 21, and ordered to pay $14,650 in costs, after a disciplinary hearing at which she didn’t show.

“You can’t get a more severe penalty from us,” Leah Kosokowsky, the society’s chief executive officer, said Monday. “There was a real pattern of dishonesty and acting without integrity.”

But Kosokowsky said, unlike in some other past disciplinary matters, there were no victims who lost large amounts of cash that had to be refunded through the professional liability insurance all Manitoba lawyers, save for those working for government, are required to have.

Badohal could not be reached for comment.

The law society charged Badohal with 14 counts of professional misconduct on Feb. 21, 2023. One count was later dropped.

The professional regulator sent Badohal an 11-page citation of the allegations via email, as well as notice of the hearing, in May and issued notice 10 additional times between June and September.

No reply was ever received and there was never any suggestion the email address was not functional.

The three-member disciplinary panel unanimously found Badohal was guilty of all counts and decided on disbarment.

“The member has a history of dishonesty and lack of integrity for which she was previously suspended,” the panel said in a 19-page decision released Dec. 21.

“Not having learned from her suspension, the member has continued to act without integrity and complete disregard for the society and their attempts to regulate her.”

Badohal was suspended for two years in 2021 after not disclosing, prior to being licensed to practise law, that she was under investigation for allegedly making false statements to Manitoba Public Insurance.

The panel said because Badohal did not show up for her disciplinary hearing her side of the story wasn’t heard, but “the member has demonstrated a clear lack of integrity during her time as a lawyer and has shown herself to be ungovernable.”

“The member’s actions have brought the administration of the legal system into disrepute,” the decision reads. “We cannot go back and prevent any damage she has caused her clients through her incompetent legal representation, but we are obligated to protect the public from the member moving forward.”

Badohal agreed with the law society on March 16, 2021, that she would not take on any new clients or open any matters that involved trust funds.

As well, the law society also took over Badohal’s trust account because the records were in such a state that a specialist had to reconstruct the records based on banking information.

But it was only during the latest investigation the law society discovered Badohal “was operating a second trust account at TD Canada Trust unknown to the society.”

The panel also found that Badohal acted for new clients several times, in violation of her suspension and, at other times, acted contrary to the code of professional conduct.

In one case, after Badohal’s husband received a default judgment, she helped him transfer a property he owned to someone else he knew for $1. The Court of Queen’s Bench later ruled that transaction was fraudulent and ordered the Winnipeg Land Titles Office to reinstate her husband as the property owner.

Others who hired Badohal to help with immigration matters found she did no work on their case or didn’t advise them when the federal government needed more information.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca