Latest news with #PaulVyamucharoShawa
CTV News
12 hours ago
- CTV News
Lawyer found guilty of 17 counts of misconduct: Law Society of Manitoba
A Manitoba lawyer has been found guilty of 17 counts of professional misconduct by the Law Society of Manitoba, with disciplinary measures to be decided at a later date. The decision dated June 20, 2025, found Paul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa breached the Law Society of Manitoba's Code of Professional Conduct following hearings that spanned eight months. A three-person panel found the 67-year-old sole practitioner guilty of offences such as breach of integrity, failure to treat the court with 'candour, courtesy and respect,' recording conversations with clients and other lawyers without their consent, and sending abusive or offensive correspondence. '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 or written—have on others in the profession with whom he deals with on a daily basis,' reads part of the 78-page decision. The charges come after three citations were filed against him between 2022 and 2024, pertaining to a fee dispute with a former client, a real estate transaction and a litigation matter. Several of the charges pertain to letters he sent to a Court of King's Bench justice and the society, including asserting that the justice was 'continuing to hog and not doing the needful' and was engaging in 'needless improper interference with access to justice.' Vyamucharo-Shawa was previously suspended from practising law for six months in 2019 after pleading guilty to five counts of professional misconduct, according to files with the Law Society of Manitoba. In 2008, he also pled guilty to four charges of professional misconduct, and in 2000, he pled guilty to nine charges of professional misconduct—with multiple charges relating to misappropriation of nearly $20,000 from a trust account. In 1999, he accepted a formal caution for breaching a trust condition. The latest decision says the discipline committee administrator will be contacted to arrange a date for a hearing on sanctions.
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Winnipeg lawyer charged with multiple counts of professional misconduct
A Winnipeg lawyer has been found guilty on more than a dozen charges of breaching his professional code of conduct, after three different citations were filed against him, and he will now wait to learn what punishment he will face. Paul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa of Winnipeg-based Shawa Law Office is guilty of a total of 17 charges of breaching the Law Society of Manitoba's Code of Conduct, says the decision handed down on June 20. The 67-year old attorney has been hit with three different citations since spring 2022, accusing him of acts including breaching an undertaking to the Law Society, breach of integrity, failure to treat the court with candour, courtesy and respect, and failure to be courteous, civil and act in good faith. He was also accused of recording conversations with clients and other lawyers without informing participants of his intentions, and of sending correspondence that is "abusive, offensive or otherwise inconsistent with a proper tone of a professional communication from a lawyer." A three-person panel decided Vyamucharo-Shawa is guilty of 17 of the 20 charges he faced in three separate citations, filed on May 26, 2022, Feb. 26, 2024, and March 13, 2024. The panel was "particularly concerned" with what it perceived to be a "refusal or perhaps an inability to accept responsibility and accountability for conduct which was clearly and demonstrably unacceptable," and said because of those concerns, they found some of his evidence "generally unreliable," the decision says. A citation filed in May 2022 includes charges of several improprieties related to a real estate transaction in which Vyamucharo-Shawa and another party were involved, while the citation filed on Feb. 26, 2024, is also related to that transaction. The March 13, 2024, citation included a charge of failing to carry on the practice of law and to discharge all of his responsibilities to a former client, the court and the public. Vyamucharo-Shawa has been a member of the Law Society of Manitoba since 1989, and this is not the first time he has been in hot water with the society. In 2019, he pleaded guilty on five charges of professional misconduct and served a six-month suspension from practising, while in 2000, he pleaded guilty to nine charges, three involving misappropriating funds from a trust account. He also received a formal caution in 1999 for breaching a trust condition. The Law Society said in their decision they will now contact their discipline committee administrator to arrange a date for hearing to decide what sanctions will be handed to Vyamucharo-Shawa.
