Murray Klippenstein announces campaign for leadership of Ontario Law Society following unprecedented scandal and cover-up
Klippenstein stated: "We at the Law Society and in the profession have been badly betrayed by our two top leaders. The fact that former Treasurer Horvat could unilaterally skyrocket the CEO's salary on her way out the door to a lifetime judicial appointment without the knowledge or approval of the board is very far removed from any notion of 'good governance'. How could anybody believe that that was proper? The incompetence, arrogance and hypocrisy are breathtaking. We expect and demand integrity from thousands of our members every day, and we hold them strictly accountable, but then this happens at the top without consequence or accountability."
"The LSO board is from where many of our senior judges are appointed. Eight of the forty directors elected in May 2023 are now Superior Court judges. There is no regulatory body that deserves more scrutiny and accountability of its leadership than the LSO", said Klippenstein.
Campaign Background
In March of this year a report to the LSO by former Ontario Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor found that the LSO's two top officials, its Treasurer and its Chief Executive Officer, had secretly signed a highly lucrative new CEO contract without knowledge or approval of the board, with the new contract being kept secret from the board for many months. The new contract jumped the CEO's compensation by 60% to almost $1 million annually, as well as awarding over $200,000 in a lump sum retroactive benefit.
The O'Connor Report revealed that the secret contract was signed by then Treasurer and board chair Jacqueline Horvat just a week before her Treasurer term ended, and just a few weeks before she left the LSO to become a judge of Ontario's Superior Court.
Several LSO board members and senior staff had learned about the new contract, including the Chair of the Finance Committee and the LSO's CFO, but kept it hidden from the board for many months. The Treasurer who replaced Horvat in June of 2024, Peter Wardle, also knew about the contract but did not inform the board until November 2024.
When the LSO board received the O'Connor Report in March of 2025, it voted to terminate the CEO's employment on the same day, but the current LSO leadership sought to suppress public disclosure of the O'Connor Report. Board member Klippenstein and eight other members of the board issued a public press release calling for the Report to be made public to the profession and the public at large. "We felt it was contrary to our profession's values to have this kept secret, and that the O'Connor Report's release was a first step towards ending the culture of cover-up and secrecy," said Klippenstein.
The O'Connor Report was finally released after unprecedented media scrutiny and outrage in the profession at large. Lawyer Carole Hansell, a leading corporate governance expert, recently released a study entitled "Governance Crisis at the Law Society of Ontario: A Cautionary Tale for Boards of Directors". In effect the current governance of the Law Society has become a case study in bad governance. The "what not to do" programme.
Campaign Platform
In this scandal-plagued environment Klippenstein says he will stand for "Clean-up, not cover-up. Integrity, not hypocrisy. Competence, not arrogance". He is calling for:
Former CEO Diana Miles to repay the LSO at least $500,000 improperly received by the ex-CEO.
The LSO to formally call for the removal of former Treasurer Horvat as a judge.
Release of all the O'Connor Report documentation, including the still suppressed Book of Documents appended to the Report.
A forensic audit of the LSO. "Justice O'Connor made it clear that his limited mandate prevented him from fully reviewing many irregularities. Many of the issues O'Connor noted remain unexamined," said Klippenstein.
A sunshine list for LSO executives. "But for the scandal the public would not know of Miles' $1.2 million compensation package and they still know nothing about other salaries inside the LSO or how they're determined. For example, the confidential executive compensation report used by the then Treasurer to justify the CEO salary increase (the Gallagher Report) equated the LSO's CEO ( head of a not-for-profit regulator with a budget of $100 million) to the CEO of a $1 billion private sector corporate enterprise. Says Klippenstein: "That comparison was obviously nonsensical. And no one knows about other senior salaries or how they are determined, because LSO leadership refuses to allow salary disclosure under a sunshine list, as is expected of almost every other public interest entity."
Current Treasurer Peter Wardle, who is running for re-election, has called for "governance reform". Klippenstein says "Sadly, abstract talk of going-forward 'governance reform' is a distraction from the obvious issue in front of us, which is that certain people behaved badly, and we need to honestly expose that. Reducing elected board members to a minority as some propose would just make things worse. This is not an issue about training, record-keeping, and more clarity in policies. This is about misconduct. We need to face it head on and be consistent with our professional values. Otherwise, we are being profoundly hypocritical when we enforce these values on our membership but try to wiggle out of them at our top levels."
"I have spent my whole career fighting for disadvantaged individuals and communities both inside and outside Canada and they, like the rest of us, need an honest profession and judiciary."
"I hope that more than a small group of current directors can be persuaded to act during this election campaign. I am the only candidate for Treasurer who believes that past accountability is required before we can have the future respect of the public."
Candidate Klippenstein has had a long career as a litigation lawyer and rights advocate, and has won numerous awards for his work.
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