Partner Amy Block and Partner and Regulatory Practice Group Chair Ben Kates recently represented the Law Society of Ontario on an appeal of a licensing application before the Ontario Court of Appeal. Amy and Ben were joined by Andrea Luey, in-house Discipline Counsel at the Law Society of Ontario. The appeal, now under reserve, seeks to overturn an earlier finding that a licensing applicant who sexually abused three young children in 2009 met the statutory requirement under the Law Society Act that all lawyers be of “good character”. The appeal hearing was covered by Law Times in an article published on Friday, August 29, 2025.
The identity of the lawyer in question has been protected by an anonymization order – also challenged on the appeal – and is referred to only as AA. In 2023, the Law Society Tribunal’s Hearing Division granted AA a licence to practise law after finding that he was of “good character. The licence was granted under the condition that AA could not meet with “minor children” while unsupervised. Meanwhile the Tribunal left in place anonymizing AA’s name so that his children would not learn about his past misconduct “prematurely” through the decision. The Law Society of Ontario challenged the decision at both an internal appeal before the Law Society Tribunal’s Appeal Division and on an application for judicial review at Divisional Court.
The Law Society of Ontario’s arguments on appeal included that the Tribunal was required to grapple with the nature of AA’s misconduct and that its decisions failed to consider adequately the statutory purpose that animates the good character requirement. The Law Times article cites Amy’s oral arguments that “the weight of rehabilitation, the weight of remorse” must be looked at in context of the severity of the misconduct that occurred, and suggested that the Tribunal’s condition that AA not meet alone with children contradicted their finding that he was of “good character”. This argument was reinforced by a lawyer representing the intervenor Justice for Children and Youth, a legal aid clinic and leading expert on children’s rights, who cited the high recidivism rates for individuals who have committed sexual assault against children. The Toronto Star also intervened to resist AA’s motion to have his anonymization order extended over the appeal proceeding.
Amy’s practice is focused on professional self-regulation, administrative and public law, and civil litigation. Amy has significant experience as appeal counsel, appearing at all levels of the court, including the Divisional Court, the Court of Appeal of Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada, on matters germane to administrative law and professional regulation, including licensing, investigative and discipline matters.
Ben practises both administrative law and civil litigation. He represents and advises industry regulators with a focus on self-regulated professions, providing advice on issues related to, among other things, governance, registration, investigations, and capacity. He also serves as prosecutor in disciplinary and fitness to practise matters. Ben’s civil litigation practice involves advising public and private-sectors clients, including not-for-profits, on litigation avoidance, governance issues, and privacy, as well as representing them in civil proceedings.
To learn more about Amy Block or Ben Kates, please visit their respective profile pages.
To learn more about WeirFoulds’ Regulatory Practice Group, click here.
