Winnipeg lawyer suspended for 30 days after sexually harassing law school student, disciplinary panel rules

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual harassment.

A law society disciplinary panel has given a Winnipeg lawyer a 30-day suspension after he admitted to inappropriately touching a law student while he was her coach in a University of Manitoba program.

Paolo Aquila, a Winnipeg lawyer who specializes in commercial and corporate law, pleaded guilty during an Aug. 21 hearing to one charge of professional misconduct for breaching the Law Society of Manitoba's code of conduct, which prohibits sexual harassment.

The panel gave Aquila a 30-day suspension and a $4,000 fine. The written decision of the panel that heard the case was released last week.

The panel says Aquila was charged for an incident that took place while he coached students in a University of Manitoba moot program, which are mock courts where law students argue simulated cases, the decision says. The year he served as a coach is redacted.

Aquila was on a trip with students to a moot competition in Toronto when he placed his hand on a student's back during a cocktail reception following an event, the panel says.

The group later went to a karaoke bar, where Aquila pulled that student's chair closer to him, placed his hand on her back and moved it down to her butt, before he rested his hand there and "repeatedly caressed" her lower back and butt, the decision says.

On the ride back to the hotel where the group was staying, Aquila again sat next to the student and "caressed her thigh for the duration of the drive."

Saul Simmonds, the lawyer representing Aquila at the hearing, says the former moot coach consumed alcohol during the celebrations and does not remember the incidents but doesn't deny that they happened and accepts responsibility, the decision says.

Lawyers for both Aquila and the law society agreed that Aquila needed to be disciplined since his actions amounted to sexual harassment and therefore professional misconduct, but they disagreed on what the discipline would look like.

Both agreed that Aquila should be fined $4,000, but sparred over whether he should be suspended, the panel says.

"The society takes the position that except in the rarest circumstances, the current law is that a member who commits sexual harassment must be suspended to provide appropriate deterrence, individual and general," the panel wrote.

'Shame and embarrassment'

Ayli Klein, who represented the law society during Aquila's hearing, recommended Aquila receive a suspension of 30 days — the shortest suspension the society would ask for in a sexual harassment case, the panel says.

The panel interviewed another student who witnessed the incident between Aquila and the student, who said the student looked uncomfortable as Aquila caressed her.

Klein said Aquila breached the trust relationship he had with the student as her coach, violating her dignity and bodily integrity while distressing her and other students who saw what happened.

But Simmonds argued against a suspension, saying that a reprimand and a fine would serve as an appropriate deterrent for Aquila. He also asked the panel to take into consideration the "shame and embarrassment" Aquila experienced while reporting the incident to his firm, fiancée and family.

Simmonds also said Aquila will not be able to serve on any law school programs in the future.

He submitted several documents on behalf of Aquila, including written apologies to the student and the law school, as well as confirmation that Aquila finished a number of trainings on topics like on sexual harassment, professionalism, as well as drug and alcohol awareness.

Simmonds also submitted reference letters from the managing partner and executive committee chair of Aquila's firm, as well as one of his coworkers, his fiancée and his sister. They all described Aquila positively, saying the behaviour was out of character for him and they were confident that his risk to reoffend is very low, which the disciplinary panel accepted.

Panel praises student

However, the panel said while a reprimand is seen as more than just a "slap on the wrist" in the legal profession, the public may not also recognize it as such and could see a fine without a suspension as a lawyer "buying their way out of trouble."

The panel acknowledged that it "must have been very difficult" for Aquila to inform his family, fiancée and firm about what happened, noting that he has taken the remedial steps expected of a law society member who commits such behaviour.

Aquila has been a "model of remedial actions" after a professional misconduct complaint, the panel said, noting that he only did so after learning of the student's complaint against him.

The disciplinary panel also praised the student for coming forward and filing a complaint against Aquila, saying she had "nothing to gain personally and everything to lose in doing so."

The panel said the incident provides an important lesson for law students and staff when it comes to alcohol consumption at school events.