Joe Groia, pictured in Toronto in 2011, is fighting the Law Society’s ruling that he violated acceptable courtroom conduct during his successful defence of Bre-X geologist John Felderhof.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Joe Groia, the Bay Street lawyer facing professional discipline for allegedly rude behaviour during the Bre-X trial almost 15 years ago, is seeking election as a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Mr. Groia, who has launched a website to promote his candidacy, says he is running to try to stop the Law Society from treating other lawyers the way it has treated him.
"I have had literally hundreds of lawyers stop me on the street and say, 'what's happening to you Joe is really terrible.' But they are reluctant to speak out," Mr. Groia said in an interview. "One of the main reasons I have decided to run is I have a sense that the law society does not truly represent the interests of the profession anymore."
The law society, the self-governing body for lawyers and paralegals in Ontario, is ruled by an assembly of elected representatives from those professions, called benchers.
For years, Mr. Groia has been locked in a pitched battle with the Law Society, which accuses him of breaking the profession's rules on civility in his defence of John Felderhof, the chief geologist with Bre-X Minerals Ltd.
Mr. Felderhof faced illegal insider-trading and other charges after a scandal over a fake Indonesia gold find shook Bay Street in the 1990s. He was acquitted.
But Mr. Groia has since faced lengthy Law Society proceedings over whether his use of "sarcasm" and "personal attacks" during the acrimonious trial's first 70 days violated the profession's rules. Mr. Groia has argued that prosecutors with the Ontario Securities Commission were also to blame, and that the law society should not intervene in courtroom behaviour where the trial judge has not complained.
Mr. Groia, who argued the OSC was trying to convict his client in the high-profile Bre-X trial at any cost, has said the law society's case against him would send a "chill" over other defence lawyers, who might fear their criticisms of prosecutors could be later used against them. Other lawyers, including the late Edward Greenspan, have also supported this view.
But a law society disciplinary appeal ruling held that Mr. Groia should still face a month's suspension. That ruling is now under appeal before the Divisional Court, in a legal battle that shows no signs of ending any time soon.
Jeff Gray