BY KEITH LACEY
A paralegal convicted last year in Sudbury of impersonating a lawyer pleaded guilty this week to misappropriating $6,000 from a client.
Gabriela King, 49, is facing similar charges to stealing from clients while acting as a paralegal in Owen Sound and Walkerton.
A paralegal has the authority in Ontario to represent clients in certain cases where the Crown has proceeded by summary conviction. They most often represent clients in traffic court and drunk-driving cases.
A paralegal doesn?t require any formal legal training or education to become a paralegal in this province.
With a pool of 160 waiting to be selected for jury duty, King and lawyer John Mann took a break from proceedings before the selection process started.
During this time King changed her mind about going on trial. She decided to plead guilty to one charge of fraud over $5,000 after admitting to misrepresenting a Sudbury area client dating back to the spring and summer of 2000.
While acting as a paralegal out of an office in Monetville (located 60 kilometres southeast of Sudbury), assistant Crown attorney Marc Huneault said King had an insurance company turn over a cheque for $5,940 after one of her clients was involved in a motor vehicle collision.
Instead of depositing the money into the client?s account, King engaged in a series of withdrawals and spent all but $8, said Huneault.
A police investigation revealed King spent the money at various restaurants and retail outlets. No payment was made to her client.
?To this day none of the money has been recovered,? said Huneault.
Justice Michael Meehan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice registered a conviction and set a sentencing date of Sept. 10.
King will be sentenced in September.
King faces a preliminary hearing in Owen Sound on July 12 on several charges of fraudulently representing clients while acting as a paralegal, said Grey County assistant Crown attorney David Hay.
It?s alleged in one case King was representing a client over a claim concerning contaminated well water and the company involved made a settlement offer of less than $5,000.
King is alleged to have spent the money and not informed the client.
In Walkerton, King is scheduled to go on trial later this year on an allegation she forged a signature on a document to illegally obtain tax information from Revenue Canada.
Hay said the case surrounding King in all three jurisdictions is interesting because Dalton McGuinty?s Liberal government has recently made a commitment to review the paralegal profession in Ontario.
?The profession is currently unregulated...and I know the Law Society of Upper Canada is currently grappling with the problem of paralegals,? he said.
Brian Linley, an assistant Crown attorney in Walkerton, confirmed the Liberal government is assessing the paralegal profession ?and there doesn?t appear to be too much opposition to it.?
The fact is there are many paralegals who do very good work, but there are others who are not as honest and professional. They get away with improprieties because the profession is not regulated by any government agency, said Linley.
In preparation for the upcoming trial in Walkerton, Linley said King was convicted last April in Sudbury of six counts under the Provincial Offences
Act of impersonating a barrister and solicitor, dating back to 2000 when she worked in Monetville.
A total of 22 other charges were dropped.
A Justice of the Peace fined King a total of $5,000 after registering the six convictions.
