Nadia Musclow

The appellant appealed an order appointing the Law Society of Upper Canada as trustee of the professional legal practice materials of a deceased lawyer.

The appellant argued for a neutral third party to handle the materials.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the appointment authorized under the Law Society Act and concluding the Law Society is the appropriate neutral party to manage and dispose of the client files and computers.

The applicant law society brought a motion to discharge a trusteeship previously ordered over the respondent lawyer’s practice under the Law Society Act.

The trusteeship had been established to secure client files, trust funds, and other records following the cessation of the respondent’s practice.

The respondent opposed the discharge, repeating arguments that the original trusteeship order lacked jurisdiction and that the destruction of inactive client files was unauthorized.

The court held that these issues had already been determined in prior proceedings and could only be challenged on appeal.

Finding that the trusteeship administration was complete and that no further services of a trustee were required, the court discharged the trusteeship and awarded costs and compensation to the applicant.

The appellant appealed an order directing the payment of unallocated trust funds into the Law Society's compensation fund.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the order was a valid distribution under section 49.47(2) of the Law Society Act.

The Court held that section 51(2) does not exhaustively set out monies payable into the compensation fund, and sections 59.6 through 59.14 do not mandate payment of unallocated funds into the unclaimed trust fund account.

Costs of $15,000 were awarded to the respondent.