THUNDER BAY - A local lawyer has voluntarily surrendered his license to practice law following an investigation by the Law Society of Ontario involving professional misconduct.
Gino Louis Arnone surrendered his law license on April 22, 2022 following the ruling released by the Law Society of Ontario on April 19.
The investigation was launched in November 2020 involving two Thunder Bay lawyers, Arnone and Theodore Lee Scollie, who were both practicing at Ericksons LLP.
The Law Society of Ontario found that between December 2013 and December 2016, Arnone “failed to provide services in accordance with standards of competency and quality to both his individual and corporate clients in relation to a share purchase transaction of a company, its credit facilities and the personal guarantees.”
In addition, the Law Society found that in April 2017 Arnone mishandled $27,373 of proceeds of a sale on behalf of clients from another partner in the firm.
Furthermore, between December 2016 and August 2018, Arnone failed to disclose a conflict of interest involving the clients of another partner in his firm, while also representing a client who was adverse in interest to the clients of another partner at the firm.
In the Law Society of Ontario’s ruling, Arnone was granted permission to surrender his law license to practice law in Ontario. Arnone was first called to the bar in 1976 and specialized in corporate and commercial law.
Scollie was also found to have engaged in misconduct, according to an agreed statement of facts filed by the Law Society of Ontario filed in March 2022.
The Law Society found that between December 2013 and December 2016, Scollie also failed to “provide services in accordance with standards of competence and quality to both his individual and corporate clients in relation to a share purchase transaction of a company, its credit facilities and the personal guarantees.”
Scollie also acted in conflict of interest between December 2016 and August 2018 by allowing “confidential and solicitor-client privileged information to be accessed and used by another partner in his firm.”
He also failed to “prevent another partner in his firm whose personal interests were adverse to those of his Clients, and who also was acting for a party whose interests were adverse to those of his Clients, to disburse his Clients’ trust funds in a manner that was contrary to his Clients’ instructions and that preferred the interests of the partner’s client and the firm.”
In the same time period, Scollie was found to have failed to provide competent legal services to his clients while conducting real estate transactions, improperly delegated tasks to a non-lawyer, and mishandled trust funds by removing the funds without first delivering fee billing.
Scollie was first called to the bar in 1994. The Law Society of Ontario has not yet ruled on a penalty following its findings.
