MYTHS OF LAWYERS

BC LAW SOCIETY SUSPENDS MEMBER AFTER SCRUTINIZING BEHAVIOUR By Wolfgang Schmidt

YEAR 2003

"just us"at work, this time in BC.

When a lawyer writes to the Canadian Judicial Council and claims that a BC Supreme Court judge doesn't know his Ass from a hole in the ground it surely will stir the ire of the Law Society who protects the public by setting standards of professional conduct for lawyers.

The Society disciplines members who violate those standards.

Last week, Karl Heintz Eisbrenner, a lawyer from Bridesville, B.C. and a member of the Law Society was disciplined and his licence was suspended in part because he wrote the above-mentioned letter.

He also sent irrelevant poetry to newspapers and others and the law society received a report from a psychiatrist that stated that Eisbrenner was not fit to practise law because of the effects of an accident in 1995 which left him with serious brain injury, still affecting his actions today.

Eisbrenner defended himself before a panel of three benchers (directors of the Society) and submitted court documents from a case he was handling, which in his opinion proved that judges had ignored evidence, that fraud was committed and in one case that his legal arguments were re-written by a judge and then the case was judged on the re-written document.

The law society however ignored the facts Eisbrenner represented because they were judging him on the narrow issue of mis-conduct.

Ms Gossen, counsel for the society told this writer that the panel was not concerned with the truth or non-truth of Eisbrenner's claims, they were only concerned with his outrageous behaviour.

Eisbrenner on the other hand wanted the panel to see why he had to stoop to lower himself to use inappropriate language.

He claims that he was unable to get a fair hearing in the BC Supreme Court in his case which involves a mining operation owned by the Barisoff family and in which 180 elderly residents of Country Pines in the southern Okanagan insist that it was an illegal operation in which the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources and the Regional District of South Okanagan-Similkameen tried to cover up the fact that there had been no prior mining on the property and the activity therefore was illegal.

The case is still ongoing and will be heard in the Court of Appeal, as Eisbrenner was successful in convincing an appeals court judge that he and the residents have a valid open case.

With the action of the Law Society, it is now questionable what legal representation the residents will have, if any.

Part of Eisbrenner's defence was the fact that the Law Society itself had objected to the filing in this case right from the beginning and had interfered with his practice by forcing him to attend panels in Vancouver just before important court dates.

In correspondence of the Law Society, they refer to the Brouwer Case as the reasons for their action, but the discipline panel ignored those aspects and did not want to judge the legal issue but rather focused on the final charges, which were laid against the lawyer, which did not include the original complaint.

Eisbrenner admitted that the language he used and the way he tried to get attention for his clients was not in keeping with the professional decorum, but out of the frustration of a number of judges asking him to release the Regional District from the case, despite the fact that that he had filed written proof of their legitimate involvement.

Eisbrenner agreed with a former Chief Justice of BC, that to rank courtesy, the wish not to offend, ahead of justice - is wrong.

The Benchers told him however, that there are other ways to handle those questions in court, but Eisbrenner insisted that judge after judge ignored the law.

Eisbrenner questioned the action of the Law Society, which went on a fishing expedition, because only one of the witnesses they had called, Mr. Domes of Oliver, had laid a complaint against the lawyer.

Domes accused Eisbrenner of using foul language and threatening gestures against him. It was interesting to hear some of the witnesses called by the Society to testify against Eisbrenner, praising the lawyer for excellent work.

One lower mainland witness, who has her own law firm in which Eisbrenner worked for a year, commented that while he was eccentric with ponytail and gaunt complexion, he is one of the brightest men I ever met she continued to explain that he did good work and handled complex cases successfully.

Another witness flown in from Alberta too testified under oath that Eisbrenner did excellent work for them.

These testimonies were focussing on 1996, a time after the car accident, where Eisbrenner admitted that at that time he had problems with files he was working on and he can't even remember now many of the things he did back then.

He testified that he realized his impairment and removed himself from the active membership list of the Society to seek treatment for his injuries.

The Society re-instated Eisbrenner after the treatment.

This meeting is like double jeopardy and harassmen, according to Eisbrenner, who had been called to a similar hearing in March of this year.

He read from the transcript of that hearing and the same charges, the same allegation and the same defence was quoted.

Eisbrenner volunteered at the time to see a Forensic Psychiatrist, chosen by the Law Society.

In March, the Benchers concluded that Eisbrenner could continue to practise law.

The current group of Benchers will give written reasons for their suspension decision later. In the meantime, Eisbrenner is prevented from completing his Brouwer Case in the Court of Appeal. When asked for a comment, Eisbrenner only said.

"The decision by the Law Society to suspend me under the guise that my continued practice of law would constitute a grave danger to the public is not in any fashion based on any law.

It is a knee-jerk simply to do what has been unsuccessfully tried for 4 years, i.e. get him off at any cost at any means. Any person wanting to verify what I have said may refer to my affidavit and supporting material filed in the Court of Appeal on Aug. 20th of this year".

Unique was a word often used in describing Eisbrenner's current case even by high ranking officials of the law Society.

Unique is also a word used for the lawyer's education.

He is Oxford (England) trained;

holds master degrees in Philosophy and Theology besides his law credentials;

taught philosophy at the University of Alberta and ethics, critical thinking and logic at Cariboo College.

Eisbrenner often quotes scripture as it relates to law and he is well versed with native and environmental problems, as they relate to the case he had been handling until last week.

Wolfgang Schmidt is a freelance writer and author living in Rock Creek BC Success is a journey...not a destination.

The Late Karl Heintz Eisbrenner's Story