Law Firm Banned from Residential School Dealings

By Katie May
Lethbridge Herald
June 6, 2012

www.lethbridgeherald.com/local-news/law-firm-banned-from-residential-school-dealings-6612.html

A Calgary law firm accused of misconduct is now forbidden from representing any residential school survivors, according to a B.C. Supreme Court ruling handed down Tuesday.

Supreme Court Judge Brenda J. Brown issued her decision after a $3-million, court-ordered investigation began last fall into allegations the firm, Blott & Company, exploited more than 4,000 residential school survivor claimants, many of them from southern Alberta, who sought compensation under the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) for physical and sexual abuse endured at residential schools across Canada.

The investigation found the law firm had ties to money-lending companies and benefited financially by leading claimants to apply for high-interest loans, sometimes falsifying their signatures on the applications. The investigation also uncovered that Blott gave a form-filing company called Honour Walk full access to claimants' confidential files and paid the company $200,000 a month - a total of $6 million - for working on the IAP cases even though Honour Walk is not a law firm and its employees are not trained in law.

In a 59-page decision, the judge banned Blott & Company and Honour Walk from participating in any IAP claims and ordered the firm's IAP practice be shut down and their cases transferred to new lawyers.

Lethbridge lawyer Ingrid Hess brought forward concerns that some Blood Reserve residents had about Blott, their former counsel, and attended the misconduct hearings.

"I'm completely elated," Hess said after the decision was announced Tuesday afternoon. "I thought that that could be the only decision the judge could come to . . . it's really amazing."

Hearings in the case wrapped up May 11 to await the judge's decision. The Law society of Alberta had previously banned Blott & Company's David Blott from contacting clients, from handling IAP hearings, from handling trust funds and from being involved in any loans to clients.

Contact: kmay@lethbridgeherald.com