Attorney N. Kent Clarke of Halifax; ethical leprechaun  

The Law Society of Nova Scotia presented N. Kent Clarke with a law license in 1991 after he graduated from Dalhousie University Law School.

The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society found Kent guilty of the following misconduct.

In one matter, Ken represented a client whose husband was struck and killed by a metro Transit bus. Kent took responsibility for the lawsuit from another lawyer in 2005.

Three years later (2008), Kent had entered into settlement negotiations with lawyers representing the bus company; however, no settlement was reached at that time.

In September 2009, the trial court ordered Kent to respond to a notice of intention to proceed with the case within 30 days or it would be dismissed. Despite the fact that the case was dismissed in October 2008, Kent laughingly asserted that he regarded the dismissal as an administrative order that could be set aside and that the lawsuit had not actually been dismissed.

It wasn’t until 2009 that Clarke spoke with his client again, and until 2012, he met with Palmer on a quarterly basis. Kent also claimed that he didn’t file a motion to set aside the dismissal order because he didn’t want to be pushed into a trial by opposing counsel.

Over the next year or so, Kent misled his client by discussing several possibilities with her, including possible settlement offers, preparing witnesses and court applications; even though he absolutely knew her case had been dismissed in 2008.

Subsequently, the client hired another attorney, and it wasn’t until that time that she found out her case had been dismissed five years earlier.

As a consequence of his misconduct, the cheerleaders for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Minnesota Supreme Court punished Kent by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand.

As we speak (ca. February 2015), Kent at 500-1568 Hollis Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.