Embattled lawyer agrees to stop practising criminal law

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This article was published 21/09/2020 (1988 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A longtime Winnipeg lawyer with a history of disciplinary infractions has agreed to no longer practice criminal law.

According to a notice of undertaking posted to the Law Society of Manitoba’s webpage, Gisele Champagne has agreed to discontinue practicing criminal defence law and not accept any new clients, effective Sept. 11.

No reason for the undertaking is included in the notice.

Leah Kosokowsky, director of regulations for the law society, said details of any matter that falls short of formal discipline remain confidential. Kosokowsky would not say if the undertaking was prompted by a client complaint.

“We receive information all the time from (law society) members, clients, the court,” she said Monday. “Our goal always is to protect the public.”

Champagne, who, according to the law society, was called to the bar in 1992, declined to comment Monday, saying only: “I can’t, because it is an outstanding matter.”

Under terms of the undertaking, she is allowed to finish providing services to clients with cases still before the courts.

Champagne has faced disciplinary action by the law society five times since 1999. Most recently, in 2018, she pleaded guilty to one count of professional misconduct, after taking instructions from a developmentally delayed youth to plead guilty to a robbery, with no input from the boy’s guardian.

Champagne agreed to no longer represent youth clients, and was ordered to pay $4,000 in fines and court costs.

In a similar case from 2012, Champagne pleaded guilty to failing to serve her client in a diligent and efficient manner, after taking a cognitively delayed youth’s instructions to agree to an adult sentence without ensuring he knew the consequences of his decision or his options. She was reprimanded and ordered to practice under supervision for 18 months.

In 2001, Champagne pleaded guilty to failing to act with integrity after admitting to providing false information on her application as a student in the bar admission program. She was fined and ordered to pay court costs totalling $2,000.

That same year, she pleaded guilty to failing to serve her client after tendering a witness at trial knowing the witness would provide testimony damaging to her client’s case. The law society reprimanded Champagne and ordered her to practice under supervision for one year.

Champagne’s current undertaking “will remain in effect unless and until it is varied or (Champagne) is relieved of it by the chief executive officer of the Law Society of Manitoba,” says the notice of undertaking.

Champagne has not been disbarred, and can continue to practice in other areas of law.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca