| ► Attorney E.F. Anthony Merchant of Regina, SK; ethical elf |
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Attorney E.F. Anthony Merchant of Regina, SK; ethical elf 
The Law Society of Saskatchewan presented E.F. Anthony Merchant with a law license in 1967 after he graduated from the University of Saskatchewan Law School.
The Law Society of Saskatchewan found Merchant guilty of the following misconduct
In one matter, Merchant represented a client in a divorce case. The family home was sold and the net proceeds were being held in trust by the Merchant Law Group. Following a trial, Justice Koch ordered that a portion of the sum being held in trust by Merchant was to be paid to the husband upon the expiration of the appeal period.
Despite repeated requests by the husband following the expiration of the appeal period, Merchant refused to pay the trust funds to the husband. As justification for the refusal, Merchant asserted a claim to the trust funds on his client’s behalf, relating to costs assessed in favor of his client and against the husband.
Subsequently, Merchant arranged to transfer a portion of the trust funds to the Merchant Law Group general account in payment of fees owed by his client. Merchant claimed that he was entitled to do this by reason of the equitable right of set-off.
The ethics committee ruled that the court had ordered that the funds be held in trust for the husband and that the doctrine of equitable set-off had no application. Put simply, Merchant’s argument was pure bunk and he knew it was! In truth, Merchant told the trial judge “Up Yours!”
As a consequence of his misconduct, the apologists for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Law Society of Saskatchewan punished Merchant by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand along with a 2-week suspension of his law license.
As we speak (ca. May 2013), Merchant practices with The Merchant Law Group at 2401 Saskatchewan Drive in Regina, Saskatchewan.
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