Suspended lawyer must pay $235K for 'staggering' breach of trust in sex-for-services proposal

Suspended Ottawa lawyer James Bowie has been ordered to pay a former client — and plaintiff in a civil case against him — $235,000 after proposing she pay for his legal services with oral sex and disclosing personal details about her online after her allegations garnered media coverage.

In an Oct. 11 decision, Superior Court Justice Heather Williams wrote that Bowie's actions were "shocking" and an "offense to the court's sense of decency."

"The lawyer-client relationship is founded on trust. That trust is why persons can and do confidently bring their most intimate problems and all manner of matters, great or small, to their lawyers," Williams's decision reads.

"In my view, the defendant's campaign to exploit the circumstances of this vulnerable young client for his own gratification followed by his public disclosure of her personal circumstances and confidential information amount to a staggering breach of the trust obligations a lawyer owes to a client."

Williams ordered Bowie to pay Leanne Aubin $75,000 for breach of fiduciary duty, $65,000 in damages, $30,000 for defamation and $25,000 in punitive damages.

She also ordered him to pay $40,000 toward Aubin's legal costs.

Neither side immediately responded to requests for comment late Friday.

Did not defend himself

Bowie did not mount a defence to Aubin's lawsuit.

In an affidavit, he wrote he has been left in "crippling emotional distress" by the allegations against him, the "significant media coverage" that followed and the "social, professional and financial fallout."

That distress and his mental health struggles have made adhering to deadlines "extremely difficult," he added.

Bowie was noted in default twice for failing to mount a defence, and his one-time lawyer was removed from the record late last year.

Williams's decision in Aubin's lawsuit was the result of a motion for summary judgment filed by her lawyers in light of Bowie's failure to mount a defence and a subsequent hearing in January that Bowie did not attend.

Lawyer overcome during proceeding

At the hearing, which CBC attended, Aubin's lawyer Christine Johnson teared up while reading Snapchat messages between her client and Bowie.

Aubin sat in the gallery along the wall with a supporter.

"I told you before, I'd rather pay [for legal services with] cash than head, [which is] a reference to oral sex," Johnson said, reading a message Aubin had sent to Bowie. "Not something I've ever done before. And as much as I'm desperate, I don't want to do anything I'll regret, at least until I know [my ex partner] isn't coming back."

"It's hot for me," Bowie replied.

"There's nothing about trying to keep my life from crumbling that turns me on, lol," Aubin replied.

Johnson tried to continue reading the messages, but stopped mid-sentence. Williams asked her if she needed a minute.

"I'm OK. Sorry, I didn't expect to become overcome with emotion. I'm OK," Johnson said, and continued.

A few minutes later, Williams ordered a five-minute recess.

Became a client in 2022

Aubin came to know Bowie when she needed a criminal lawyer for the first time and a friend recommended him.

Aubin had been charged with assault with a weapon after she threw a plastic beer pitcher at a man during a 2022 dispute about Justin Trudeau and Fidel Castro at an Ottawa bar. The man had called her a sexist slur and had made a hurtful comment about her family.

She threw the pitcher in retaliation, and then he picked up her smartphone and threw it at her face, breaking a bone, according to her affidavit.

Police charged her with assault with a weapon and didn't charge the man with anything, even though she was seriously injured and he was not, according to her affidavit.

The charges against Aubin were later dropped after she went to a different lawyer.

Repeatedly declined offer to pay with sex

In her decision, Williams wrote that when Aubin proposed a payment plan for his legal services, Bowie "knew that he did not want a record" of what he was going to do next and suggested they communicate on Snapchat, a social media website where messages are deleted.

Eventually Bowie offered to accept oral sex instead of money, Williams found. Aubin said no, but he continued bringing it up, told Aubin he was propositioning her, and sent her a photograph of his penis.

(The day of the hearing in January, Johnson told court she brought a copy of the "dick pic" enclosed in a sealed envelope, and that she could give it to the court if Williams so desired, but that she was also trying to spare Williams from seeing it. Williams decided it wasn't necessary.)

"When this vulnerable client later told the defendant that she was having mental health issues and feeling suicidal, he recommended alcohol, drugs and the sex with him that she had repeatedly said she was not interested in," Williams wrote in her decision.

"After the plaintiff complained about the defendant to the [Law Society of Ontario], he took to social media to defend himself. He identified the plaintiff, openly discussed their confidential lawyer-client relationship and disclosed personal information about the plaintiff."

Criminal trial adjourned, postponed

Bowie is facing criminal charges in connection to Aubin's allegations, as well as other alleged offences.

His judge-alone trial in Ottawa's Ontario Court of Justice started last month, but had to be adjourned and then postponed after sitting for one day due to issues his defence lawyer, Eric Granger, was having.

Granger told CBC those issues have nothing to do with Bowie's case.

Bowie's next appearance on the criminal allegations is scheduled for January.

They have not been proven, and he remains innocent of them.