The judge said the evidence amounts to a ‘staggering breach of the trust obligations a lawyer owes to a client’
Suspended Ottawa lawyer James Bowie has been ordered to pay $235,000 to a former client for his “shocking” conduct towards the woman in a legal-services-for-sex proposal.
Superior Court Justice Heather Williams said in her Oct. 11 decision that Bowie waged a “campaign to exploit the circumstances of this vulnerable young client for his own gratification” and disclosed her identity and confidential personal details in a social media chat.
The judge said the evidence amounts to a “staggering breach of the trust obligations a lawyer owes to a client.”
Bowie was ordered to pay $75,000 for breach of fiduciary duty, $65,000 in damages for breaches under the Human Rights Code, $30,000 for defamation and $25,000 in punitive damages.
He was also ordered to pay Leanne Aubin, his former client, an additional $40,000 to cover her legal costs in the lawsuit.
Bowie was also charged criminally with harassment, extortion and two counts of uttering threats to the woman. His criminal trial was adjourned in late September and is set to resume in January.
The criminal allegations against Bowie have not been tested in court.
Bowie was noted as “in default” during the civil court proceedings after he did not file a statement of defence. A defendant who is in default “is deemed to admit all of the factual allegations” in the plaintiff’s statement of claim, the judge noted.
According to her lawsuit, Aubin first contacted Bowie for legal assistance after she was charged with assault with a weapon in May 2022 for throwing a plastic beer pitcher at a man during an argument.
Bowie was recommended to the woman through an acquaintance, and she contacted the defence lawyer on June 1, 2022.
She had never been charged with a crime before and was worried about the impact a criminal conviction could have on her family and on her career as a personal support worker, according to the judge’s summary of the facts.
Bowie told her he would require a $4,000 retainer. She was concerned about money and decided to attend her first court appearance without Bowie. She was granted an adjournment and applied for financial assistance through Legal Aid, but was denied.
She contacted Bowie again in August 2022 and Bowie agreed to a payment plan. He then asked her to contact him through Snapchat, a messaging app that automatically deletes messages 24 hours after they have been viewed.
Within a few weeks, according to the summary, Bowie proposed that he would provide legal services in exchange for oral sex every two weeks.
Aubin told him she was not interested in a sexual relationship with him and offered a payment plan of $200 every two weeks for two years.
Bowie continued to suggest the exchange of sex for legal services throughout August; he sent her a picture of his penis and invited her to his home to consume drugs and alcohol with him, which she declined.
Aubin spoke to a police officer in September 2022 and the officer suggested she find a new lawyer and report Bowie’s conduct to authorities.
Aubin’s new lawyer promptly filed a complaint with the Law Society of Ontario.
He was also successful in having the criminal assault charge against Aubin dropped within two weeks, the judge noted.
Aubin was represented by defence lawyer Michael Spratt at the time. She was represented by Christine Johnson during her civil proceedings.
On Nov. 29, 2022, the same day media reports surfaced about the LSO complaint, Bowie posted to social media: “It’s fake.”
The judge ruled that posting on X did not constitute defamation, but said that Bowie made defamatory statements in a chat later that night on the Discord social media platform.
Bowie identified the woman by name during the chat with “multiple” unknown people and talked about her criminal charge. He suggested she fabricated the LSO complaint “to avoid paying” Bowie’s legal bill.
Bowie disclosed personal information about her, said she was a drug user and said she had sent him intimate photos over social media. Bowie also claimed the two were friends who engaged in “mutual flirting.”
Aubin denied each of those claims, and the judge deemed the claims to be untrue and defamatory.
“The lawyer-client relationship is founded on trust,” Williams wrote in her decision. “In my view, the defendant’s campaign to exploit the circumstances of this vulnerable young client for his own gratification followed by his public disclosure of her personal circumstances and confidential information amount to a staggering breach of the trust obligations a lawyer owes to a client.”
Williams acknowledged that Bowie never touched Aubin or had any physical contact with her.
“(Aubin) said his conduct nonetheless caused her to suffer significant mental and emotional distress,” Williams wrote. “She said she felt like there was no one she could turn to because the person who was supposed to be helping her was making things worse. She said she felt that (Bowie) wanted her situation to become worse so that she would be even more vulnerable, and he would be better able to take advantage of her.”
Williams called Bowie’s conduct “a pattern of persuasion” that continued for weeks, followed three months later by the defamatory Discord chat.
Bowie “harmed not only the plaintiff (Aubin) but the reputation of lawyers generally. While his misconduct was directed toward the plaintiff, and directly and seriously harmed the plaintiff, its effects will have been felt more widely,” Williams wrote. “I find the defendant’s conduct to be shocking, an offense to the court’s sense of decency and deserving of the sanction of punitive damages.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that lawyer Christine Johnson represented Leanne Aubin during her criminal proceeding. Michael Spratt was the defence lawyer who had her assault charge dropped. Johnson was her lawyer for the civil proceedings.