Fredericton lawyer who misappropriated $1.3M in client funds should be disbarred, law society says

A Fredericton lawyer, found guilty of 29 charges of professional misconduct, will have one month to respond to arguments on how he should be sanctioned.

Fredericton lawyer who misappropriated $1.3M in client funds should be disbarred, law society says Stephen James Hill requested an adjournment of his hearing, but was denied A Fredericton lawyer, found guilty of professional misconduct, will have one month to respond to arguments on how he should be sanctioned. Stephen James Hill was found guilty last month on 29 charges of professional misconduct, including misappropriation of client funds, failure to complete required work, and failure to follow client instructions. He appeared before a panel of the discipline committee in Fredericton on Friday for a hearing on sanctions.

But without representation from his lawyer, Rodney Gillis, Hill requested an adjournment. He said the consequences of the hearing are significant and the ramifications massive. Hill argued the request was for a relatively short adjournment of about one month.

He said he knows there has been a delay and he agreed the matter is serious in nature. But he added that if he was trying to avoid the situation, he wouldn't be there. But discipline committee panel chairman Robert Basque said Hill had more than two months to secure legal representation, and waited until this week to retain counsel who was out of the country.

The request for an adjournment was denied, and the proceeding went ahead. Law Society of New Brunswick counsel Destiny Grant argued that delay in securing a lawyer reflects a pattern, pointing to previous instances where Hill has requested adjournments due to a lack of legal representation. She said Hill was manipulating the system by orchestrating delay.

The hearing stems from the law society’s notice of complaint issued to Hill in October. After failing to respond within 20 days, Hill was deemed to have admitted the charges against him. A discipline hearing was set to follow in November, but it was adjourned at Hill's request the day before it was set to begin.

At a hearing that eventually got underway in March, the law society argued Hill admitted to the charges by not answering complaints within the permitted timeframe, and only sent a reply on March 16, the week before the hearing got underway, denying the allegations but not responding to them in a detailed way. On June 1, the panel issued a notice of hearing that it would proceed with sanctions on July 17. Grant said Hill’s actions must result in a finding of ungovernability, and that he must face the consequences.

She said that includes disbarment, reimbursement of the compensation fund, and payment of costs. She added that there should be conditions placed on any future readmission to the Law Society of New Brunswick, until all ordered sums are paid in full. Largest compensation payout in N.B. history Grant pointed to other New Brunswick case law, including the discipline of Yassin Choukri.

He was a former high-ranking New Brunswick justice official who was sentenced in 2023 to three years in prison for gambling away his law firm clients' money. Grant said Choukri was disbarred, and the law society was forced to pay out more than $700,000 from its compensation fund to Choukris clients. That was an all-time high for law society payouts, but the law society’s registrar of complaints, Joleen Dable, said Choukri no longer tops the list.

“For Hill, as you've heard today, it amounts to approximately $1.3 million that we've had to pay out,” Dable said. “So it definitely surpasses the amount of complaints, surpasses the amount of money owed as well. And so I would think that this is a matter that's more severe than Mr. Choukri.”

Dable said the complaints date back to 2022, and the 29 complaints listed so far, do not reflect the total number of complaints. “Not all complaints are on the Form 22 that's currently on our website. There will be other hearings eventually down the road after this proceeding is done, another notice of complaint will be issued with new allegations.”

She said it’s not yet determined how many complaints will be included on the second notice of complaint. Decision on sanctions still to come Without his lawyer present, Hill declined to respond to closing arguments. CBC emailed Hill’s lawyer, Rodney Gillis, for comment, but did not receive a response.

The panel gave Hill until Aug. 14 to respond in writing to the argument of sanctions. The Law Society of New Brunswick will have until Aug. 28 to reply to Hill’s argument. The panel of the discipline committee will then issue its decision in due course.

Hill was suspended on an interim basis from the practice of law on Feb. 12, 2025, pending a final decision by the discipline committee of complaints. Fredericton police have confirmed there are also two active fraud investigations underway into Hill, but no further details were provided. Hill was admitted to the Law Society of New Brunswick in 2005.

He practised law at Elliott McCrea Hill until about June 8, 2023, when he became a sole practitioner at the Vanguard Legal Group.