Suspended Calgary lawyer Surinder Randhawa must complete courses in ethics and law-firm management as part of his term of probation for uttering a forged document, a judge said Tuesday.
Randhawa must also perform 50 hours of community service, Justice Blair Nixon said.
Nixon rejected a call by Randhawa’s lawyer to hand him a suspended sentence of one day with no probationary terms.
Instead, the Court of Queen’s Bench judge placed Randhawa on probation for 10 months, during which he can return to the legal profession if the Law Society of Alberta lifts his suspension.
Randhawa was handed a 14-month suspension by the law society — a punishment which has been completed, but he must still apply for reinstatement.
Lawyer Dennis McDermott suggested the need to take ethics and law-firm management courses might impact Randhawa’s ability to apply to return to practice.
But Nixon said the training will be beneficial to Randhawa, 56.
“Courses on ethics and firm management, I think, are positive for anyone to take,” Nixon said.
“He’ll gain something from that,” the judge said.
“Every time I go to these courses I learn something — I’m always amazed at what I don’t know.”
Randhawa earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of uttering a forged document for being willfully blind, or reckless in connection with forged documents submitted to TD Canada Trust on a mortgage application.
While Randhawa didn’t handle, or see the falsified documents, which didn’t result in any loss to the bank, he was solicitor for the mortgage conveyance on the northeast property.
Before proceedings concluded, Randhawa told Nixon he regretted pleading guilty and balked at having to pay a $50 victim fine surcharge.
“Who is the victim in this case? … I would like to know who is the victim,” he said.
“I guess society is the victim, this is not a discussion matter, you’ve pled guilty to a particular offence and it’s automatic.”
“There was nothing wrong in my file,” Randhawa said. “It was oversight.”
McDermott earlier sought a discharge for his client, but Nixon agreed with Crown prosecutor Shelley Smith there should be a public record of Randhawa’s conviction.
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
