| Lawyer faked illness,
must perform community service to make amends Judge caught counsel who said he was sick, unable to attend trial Jake Rupert The Ottawa Citizen March 9, 2005
Marc Lecorre, 28, who admitted his transgression at a court appearance last week, apologized for his actions to Ontario Court Justice Paul Belanger. Mr. Lecorre was scheduled in January to appear before Judge Belanger for a trial. When the case was called, another lawyer, acting in good faith, stepped forward to say Mr. Lecorre had asked her to tell the court that he was sick and could not attend. Judge Belanger noted that two weeks previously, Mr. Lecorre had applied in front of another judge for an adjournment of the trial. At that previous hearing, Mr. Lecorre said he needed the adjournment because he was double booked. He was scheduled to appear in a Renfrew court for another client and wanted the Ottawa trial postponed. The request was denied. After Judge Belanger mentioned this background, an Ottawa police officer in the courtroom was directed to look into the matter. The officer phoned the Renfrew courthouse and learned Mr. Lecorre was in court representing the other client. The next day, Justice Belanger cited Mr. Lecorre for contempt of court. Mr. Lecorre had been a practising lawyer for 14 months at the time of the incident and works on his own. Last week, Mr. Lecorre and his lawyer, Norm Boxall, admitted the incident constituted contempt of court, but asked Judge Belanger to dismiss the matter in light of the apology, donation, community service and an arrangement to have a senior lawyer act as his mentor for a year. The judge granted the request. "He's a young lawyer who made a mistake and whose response to the mistake was appropriate and accepted by the court," Mr. Boxall said. "He's looking forward to putting this behind and getting on with
the rest of his legal career." |