Process for reporting criminal or illegal activity

As part of our mandate to protect the public interest, the Law Society reports to law enforcement about criminal or illegal activity. This page describes the Law Society's process for reporting to law enforcement.

On this page, "law enforcement" refers to police and other regulatory bodies, including another Canadian law society. 

Reporting criminal or illegal activity to law enforcement and other regulators

1. The Law Society will report to law enforcement where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a licensee or any other person has been involved in criminal or illegal activity.
2. In addition to reports by the Law Society, the Law Society encourages complainants and witnesses to report directly to law enforcement and supports their efforts in doing so.
3. A report is not required if law enforcement is already aware of the alleged illegal activity.
4. The report cannot include information that is subject to the confidentiality provisions of section 49.12 of the Law Society Act. As a general rule the report will include a summary of the relevant allegations based on information received with the initial complaint. Consent of the complainant and/or client will ordinarily be obtained before the report is made.
5. The Law Society will disclose additional information under section 49.12(2)(h) of the Act if there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a significant risk of financial harm to a person, and the disclosure is made principally for a purpose related to preventing the harm or investigating the risk.
6. The Law Society will disclose additional information under section 49.12(2)(i) of the Act if there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a significant threat to the life, health or security of an individual, and the disclosure is made principally for a purpose related to addressing or investigating the threat.
7. On release of decisions of the Law Society Tribunal, any matter that raises issues of criminal or illegal activity will be reported to law enforcement.