Lyle Howe disciplinary process prompted change at N.S. bar society

The new head of Nova Scotia Barristers' Society says the disciplinary process that ultimately led to the disbarment of Halifax lawyer Lyle Howe has prompted the society to take more steps to address the lack of cultural diversity in the profession.

"I think even before the matter went to a hearing, the society learned from that process," Tilly Pillay, who became the bar society's new executive director on Feb. 1, said in an interview.

Last fall, the disciplinary panel disbarred Howe, who is black, after it found he lied judges and clients, overbooked himself in several courtrooms on the same day and kept poor records. Howe was also ordered to pay $150,000 in hearing costs.

In its 26-page decision on sanctions, the panel also criticized the society for requiring Howe to call many witnesses to speak about "actual, systemic and historical racism." The panel said the society should have "made admissions in this regard."

The panel concluded there was no failure by the barristers society to "accommodate Mr. Howe's racial, colour, or ethnic background."

First person of colour at the helm

Pillay graduated from Dalhousie's law school in 1989. The South Africa native is the first person of colour to hold the executive director's position. She served as the society president from 2014-2015.

For several years, the society — the regulatory body for close to 2,000 members across the province — has done cultural competence training for its hearing members and committees, Pillay said.

"Definitely, we can appreciate an all-white panel with an African-Nova Scotian lawyer facing that panel might seem daunting," Pillay said. "So we went out and actively recruited members from different communities onto our panels, so that we could appropriately put members on the panels who are representative of the individuals who they are adjudicating about."

Change won't happen overnight

The Howe matter also prompted the society to change its investigation process; it now makes sure that people of colour are supporting the society at the outset of investigations, instead of at the end of the process.

Still, Pillay knows change is not going to happen overnight.

"This is something that we will have to work on conscientiously, focused and intentional for a long time," she said.

In 2017, of the province's 1,994 practising lawyers, four per cent identified as Acadian, 2.1 per cent identified as African Nova Scotian/black and 2.8 as Mi'kmaq/Aboriginal.