Law Society overstepped, court finds

Regulator went too far in ordering lawyers to redo licensing process amid exam-cheating scandal

The Law Society of Ontario overstepped when it ordered would-be lawyers suspected of cheating on the profession’s entry exam to essentially start the licensing process over again, a three-judge panel has ruled.

In the summer of 2022, the LSO determined that 125 lawyer candidates had engaged in “prohibited actions” when completing the bar admission exam. The LSO voided their exam results and their registration in the licensing process, and disqualified them from reapplying for one year. The LSO also indicated it would “share this decision and that basis for it” with all legal regulators across Canada.

While it was “reasonable” for the LSO to void the exam results, the law society went too far in ordering candidates to redo most of their licensing requirements, according to the Divisional Court decision released earlier this week.

“It was a violation of procedural fairness to impose that level of consequence without holding a hearing or reaching a determination that the Applicants had engaged in intentional misconduct,” the ruling said. “The Applicants have suffered significantly. It has been almost two years since they wrote their exams. Their professional lives have been in limbo and they have undoubtedly suffered as a result.”

In 2022, allegations emerged that bar exam materials had been improperly accessed by some candidates taking the test online during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tests have resumed in person.) To be licensed to practice law in Ontario, candidates must pass two exams that are self-study, open book and multiple choice.

The LSO filed a lawsuit against Canada NCA Exam Guru, and its sole director Aamer Chaudhry of Mississauga. His company provides bar exam preparation courses for students. The LSO alleged NCA Exam Guru disseminated “cheating documents” to allow their clients to cheat on the November 2021 barrister examination, according to the statement of claim.

Chaudhry denies every allegation in a statement of defence filed in May this year. The document says, “If there was an unlawful dissemination of questions or answers from the November 2021 Ontario barrister examination, which is not admitted, it consisted of a leak of examination content involving the plaintiff’s own employees, agents and/or contractors, other providers of examination preparation courses and/or other unknown third parties.”

Asked about the statement of defence, a Law Society spokesperson wrote in an email: “In so far as the assertions relate to LSO employees and third parties retained by the LSO in relation to the administration of the licensing examinations, they are unproven and baseless assertions.”

She added: “Since the matter is before the courts, the LSO will not be commenting further.”

NCA Exam Guru’s business was increasing year to year, “and whose students achieved a high rate of success in passing,” according to the statement of defence. The case continues to work its way through the civil court system.

The Divisional Court ruling, meanwhile, sends the individual cases back to the LSO to determine “next steps in accordance with these reasons.”

The judges rejected a request by the lawyer candidates challenging the LSO’s decision to have their successful licensing exam results restored.

The judges also found that the LSO’s conduct in the cheating scandal did not amount to an abuse of process. “We recognize the LSO was confronting a difficult dilemma. It had to make a time-sensitive decision regarding how to address a compromised exam process.”

The Law Society is reviewing the decision, the spokesperson wrote in an email Friday.

‘‘ It was a violation of procedural fairness to impose that level of consequence without holding a hearing or reaching a determination that the Applicants had engaged in intentional misconduct. PANEL RULING