Joseph Stephen Farkas, who represented a high volume of Roma refugees, will be suspended for six months and placed under supervision for at least one year.
A Toronto lawyer who has been found guilty of professional misconduct in representing Roma refugee claimants will be suspended for six months and placed under supervision for at least one year if he is to continue practising refugee law.
The professional disciplinary action against Joseph Stephen Farkas followed similar penalties handed out earlier by the Law Society Tribunal against lawyers Viktor Hohots and Elizabeth Jaszi.
Hohots was suspended for five months and barred from practising refugee law for two years while Jaszi was fined and disbarred.
According to an Osgoode Hall Law Journal article, the three lawyers represented a total of 986 Hungarian Roma refugee claimants between 2008 and 2012.
Five of Farkas’ complainants retained new counsel, while at least one client was denied statutory stay of removal and deported in 2012 after the lawyer failed to file an application for leave in a timely fashion, according to the tribunal ruling.
The tribunal said Farkas’ suspension will take effect at the end of April and ordered him to pay $200,000 in costs to the Law Society of Upper Canada within two years.
“Upon resumption of his practice, Mr. Farkas shall practise refugee law only in association with and under the supervision of another lawyer . . . Both the plan of supervision and the supervisor shall be approved by the Law Society’s Executive Director,” said the tribunal order.
“The approved plan of supervision and the supervisor shall continue for a definite period of one year and then indefinitely until the Executive Director is satisfied that the plan and the supervisor are no longer required.”
Farkas faced complaints from 10 former clients who claimed the lawyer was not directly involved in assisting them in their asylum claims, which one expert witness said “were vague, lacked important details and contained mistakes in spelling and grammar.”
Advocates for Roma refugees have for years blamed the group’s low asylum acceptance rates on the poor legal representation they received during the asylum process. Most Roma claimants say they face ethnic discrimination and persecution.
Related: Federal government urged to help Roma refugee clients of disciplined lawyers
Farkas testified he recalled being directly involved in the preparation process for many of the complainants. The tribunal said it heard “conflicting and inconsistent” evidence from the lawyer’s two Hungarian interpreters, Szilvia Sztranyak and Tamas Buzai, about his involvement.
Farkas’ current lawyers, Marie Henein and Kenneth Grad, did not respond to the Star’s request for comment for this article. His former counsel, Samuel Robinson, said before the disciplinary order was handed down that his client intended to appeal the guilty verdict by the tribunal.
In disregarding the law society’s request to revoke Farkas’ licence, the tribunal said it took into consideration that the lawyer had no prior disciplinary record and expressed remorse, as well as changing his refugee law practices to become more directly involved with his clients.
“In ordering a six-month suspension as opposed to the revocation of licence, we are by no means endorsing the view that because no money has been stolen and no financial fraud has been committed, the lawyer’s conduct is thus not serious enough to warrant the harshest of penalties,” the tribunal said.
“The panel is fully aware that refugee claimants in general are vulnerable persons whose very life, liberty and security interests are at stake every time they are engaged in a legal process . . . The action of an incompetent refugee lawyer can have far more devastating impact than a dishonest lawyer who steals from his or her clients.”
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This slap on the wrist outcome, in no way reflects the harm done to hundreds of families. It is very sad that the LSUC asked for disbarment, yet the tribunal came back after a very lengthy period of time with a mere 6 month suspension.
I can tell you that the Roma community, and many of those who seek justice, are very disappointed with this decision. ”