Law society disbars ‘ungovernable’ 86-year-old

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This article was published 10/04/2025 (274 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An 86-year-old Winnipeg woman who began practising law in 1962 has been disbarred after she continued to take on new clients despite a promise to the Law Society of Manitoba to retire.

Caroline Cramer was disbarred in January on a joint recommendation from the law society — the profession’s regulator in the province — and her lawyer following a hearing that month.

She had acknowledged she was guilty of professional misconduct.

The misconduct stemmed from her failure to follow restrictions put in place by the society’s complaints investigation committee in 2020, a society panel said in a written decision. The initial complaints are not specified in the decision.

In September 2020, the committee ordered she confine her practice to real estate matters and the preparation of wills and powers of attorney, and that she have no more than 50 active files at a time, which Cramer failed to do.

The committee then ordered further restrictions in October that year, ordering her to close or transfer all files not related to real estate, wills and powers of attorney. Again, Cramer failed to comply.

She then advised the society in a written undertaking in December 2020 that she intended to retire no later than February 2021 and the society changed her status to non-practising, meaning she was no longer entitled to practise law.

However, Cramer continued to work on files she had opened prior to the undertaking and accepted work from new clients, the law society said.

In May 2021, she set up a notary business, offering to authenticate documents, take oaths, review documents and provide legal documents.

“In the months following May 2021, Ms. Cramer now acknowledges that she took on work and continued to work in the areas of real estate transactions, estate administration and wills and estates,” said the decision.

“This work amounted to the practise of law and went well beyond the services notaries are permitted to perform.”

Cramer also transferred about $61,000 from a trust account to a corporate account, away from where the society could audit her and created inaccurate records she gave to the law society to make it appear she was following the undertaking.

“She attempted to engage other members of the society on two occasions to allow use of their names to facilitate real estate transactions as she could no longer complete registrations through the Land Titles Office due to her change in status,” said the law society panel.

“She improperly used the name of another member of the society to file a request for probate of a will.”

She was suspended in November 2021 and the law society asked the Court of King’s Bench to appoint custodians to take over her files and all of her clients’ money, which the law society said she failed to comply with initially.

She initially contested the law society’s jurisdiction over her, pointing to the fact she had “retired” in February 2021, which the law society dismissed.

“Ms. Cramer clearly became ungovernable in the final year of her practice,” the society wrote, noting her lawyer observed she was overcome with stress while trying to practise law into her 80s.

She lost sight of the fundamental obligation to treat clients, the governing body and the court with integrity, it said.

The society decision called it sad to see her long career, with only a minor past disciplinary record, end in disbarment.

“We can acknowledge that her choice of law for a profession was particularly challenging in a day when almost no women chose it and those who did frequently were not respected or encouraged to continue; for that she deserves commendation,” the law society panel wrote. Cramer was the only woman in her law school graduating class.

Cramer was also ordered to pay a total of $13,600 in costs to the law society.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca