Law society disbars 67-year-old lawyer with long history of professional misconduct

A Winnipeg lawyer found guilty earlier this summer of 17 counts of professional misconduct is no longer allowed to practise law in Manitoba.

In a decision released this week, the Law Society of Manitoba disbarred Paul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa, ruling his long disciplinary history shows he is “incapable of rehabilitation.”

“There are no ‘mitigating circumstances’ in this case,” a law society disciplinary panel wrote in a 21-page decision. Vyamucharo-Shawa “has demonstrated no remorse at any point in the proceedings and done nothing since his convictions two months earlier to redress or even acknowledge the harms resulting from his misconduct.”

Vyamucharo-Shawa has practised law in Manitoba since 1989.

A law society panel heard evidence over seven months and found the 67-year-old sole practitioner guilty of offences that include sending abusive or offensive correspondence, failing to treat the court with “candour, courtesy and respect,” recording meetings with clients and other lawyers without their consent, failing to discharge his duties to clients and other lawyers “honourably and with integrity,” and failing to inform a client he was practising under supervision.

“The panel cannot escape the very distinct impression that Mr. Vyamucharo-Shawa, to this day, lacks insight into the impact his behaviours and his words — spoken and written — have on others in the profession with whom he deals on a daily basis,” the panel wrote in a 78-page decision released June 20.

Vyamucharo-Shawa was first called to the bar in Malawai in 1982 and told the law society he was the first person of African descent to be admitted to the Manitoba bar.

The law society panel described Vyamucharo-Shawa’s testimony as “compelling” when describing discrimination he has experienced and “exasperating” during his lengthy monologues detailing disagreements with the law society, court, and other lawyers.

“The panel is particularly concerned with what it perceives to be a refusal, or perhaps an inability, on the part of Mr. Vyamucharo-Shawa to accept responsibility and accountability for conduct which was clearly and demonstrably unacceptable,” the decision said. “This is yet another reason why the panel believes that his evidence is generally unreliable.”

Law society records show that in 2019 Vyamucharo-Shawa was suspended from the practice of law for six months and ordered to pay $10,000 in hearing costs after he was found guilty of professional misconduct related to his representation of clients in three real estate transactions.

In 1999, Vyamucharo-Shawa received a caution for breaching a trust condition. A year later he pleaded guilty to nine counts of professional misconduct, including misappropriating nearly $20,000 from a trust account. He was suspended from practice for one year and ordered to pay $10,000 in hearing costs.

In 2008, Vyamucharo-Shawa pleaded guilty to four charges related to assisting clients to defraud others and holding funds in his trust account to which he was not entitled. He was suspended for six months and ordered to pay $5,000 in hearing costs.

That same year, Vyamucharo-Shawa was investigated for allegedly assisting another client perpetrate a fraud and using his trust account to help a client hide money. Vyamucharo-Shawa was not charged with any offences but entered an undertaking not to practise law for five years following the expiry of his six-month suspension.

Vyamucharo-Shawa returned to practice under law society-ordered supervision in 2015.

At a hearing earlier this month, Vyamucharo-Shawa argued he should be allowed to resign instead of being disbarred, the harshest sanction available to the law society. Lawyer Ayli Klein, representing the profession’s regulator, said the circumstances of the case don’t justify that measure of leniency.

“The panel agrees with the submission of the Society there are none of the usual mitigating circumstances in this case to justify permission to resign,” the disciplinary panel wrote.

The panel ordered that Vyamucharo-Shawa pay $60,000 in hearing costs.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca