Demented and creepy: Lawyer (accused of sex crimes against a child) Robert Regular’s lawyers tried to keep his identity secret to protect reputation of other lawyers. To do that, self regulators of lawyers (law societies) need to clean house and stop granting known convicted pedophiles licence to practice law.

Identity of N.L. lawyer in sexual assault case revealed as top court won’t hear anonymity bid, Robert Regular argued publishing name would harm his reputation by Rob Antle and Ariana Kelland, CBC News, Aug 04, 2022

Robert Regular, pictured in a 2020 file photo, is facing four counts of sexual assault and one of sexual interference. He has pleaded not guilty. A jury trial is scheduled for next year. (CBC)

The curtain has been lifted on the identity of Newfoundland lawyer Robert Regular, after the Supreme Court of Canada declined Thursday to hear an appeal that would allow him to continue shielding his name from publication.

Until now, Regular, 70, has been known on court dockets in Newfoundland and Labrador only by the initials R.R. 

He is facing four counts of sexual assault and one of sexual interference, involving the same alleged victim. She was 12 at the time of the first alleged assault two decades ago.

Three of the charges were laid against Regular in June 2021. The other two charges were filed in January.

Last year, Regular was granted an interim ban in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court, to block his name from being published in relation to those criminal proceedings.

CBC News and CTV News intervened, arguing the ban would interfere with the open-court principle and freedom of the press.

N.L. judge cautioned about ‘sea change’ in criminal law

In March, Justice James Adams sided with the media organizations. Fantastic courage! I expect the patriarchy, pope et al and law societies are boiling with rage. Too many rapists and pedophiles are protected by authorities with our misogynistic courts favouring sex offenders and letting them off, again and again, while publicly bullying, revictimizing and or shaming victims (I think to shut them up and stop others from daring to seek fair treatment and justice). The only justice most rape victims (including the frac harmed) get in Caveman Canada is to be able to go public – if they have the courage and stamina to face the endless troops of abuse from angry men that want their sex and frac crimes kept secret.

Adams ruled that granting the publication ban would run counter to the open-court principle and would change the law across Canada. 

“If a publication ban were to be issued in this case, then almost anyone charged with a criminal offence could claim the same protection,” the judge wrote in his decision.

“This would constitute a sea change in the criminal law. The appropriate authority to make such a change is Parliament, not the court.”

Adams found that Regular’s presumption of innocence is not at risk if no publication ban is granted.

“In protecting the applicant’s reputation by issuing a ban on his identity, the court would be seriously impacting the public interest in encouraging persons with relevant information about similar allegations from coming forward,” Adams wrote in his decision.

“It would also negatively impact the public’s interest in seeing that all individuals charged with criminal offences are treated fairly and equally.”

The judge lifted the ban on Regular’s name, but stayed that decision pending Regular’s bid to have the Supreme Court of Canada hear the matter.

Regular is being represented by well-known St. John’s lawyers Rosellen Sullivan and Jerome Kennedy, as well as Scott Hutchison of the high-profile Toronto law firm Henein Hutchison LLP. Wow, the lawyer must have heaps of money.

They argued that releasing Regular’s identity risked his presumption of innocence, privacy, and the reputation of other professionals in his field.Ooooo la la! Lawyers scared and pissy that it’s becoming publicly known how many lawyers rape children with the legal industry’s regulator granting law licences to known convicted pedophiles? Seems the legal industry doesn’t give a damn about justice, truth or the raped, just cares about reputation and money, and to keep their lies and crimes secret. A demented creepy club.

The lawyers contended that publication of his name would cause lasting damage to Regular, even if he is found not guilty.

“The combined effect of an internet that never forgets and social media’s present capacity to amplify irrelevant, inaccurate, or outdated information cannot be overstated,” they wrote in the application to the court. 

Regular has worked in law for more than three decades as a lawyer on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula.

The Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador has sanctioned him five times since the early 1990s for an array of misconduct relating to the profession — none of which was criminal in nature. 

Regular had agreed that the ban could be lifted if he is ultimately convicted.I expect that Mr. Lawyer knows the courts will let him off and kiss his fingers to try to salvage the rape-infested legal-judicial industry’s reputation. He is a man in Caveman Raping Canada after all. And lots of rich and powerful rapists, including lawyers, wanna keep raping.

Victims of sexual assault are automatically protected by a publication ban on their identity because of the nature of the crime. 

The accused, however, is not protected by such a ban, unless one is needed to conceal the identity of the victim. 

Regular has elected trial by judge and jury. A seven-day trial is scheduled to begin at Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court on May 29, 2023.

Newfoundland lawyer pleads not guilty to sexual assaults; trial date set by Tara Bradbury · Reporter, May 2, 2022, Saltwire

A Newfoundland lawyer charged with sexual assaults spanning more than a decade will go to trial before a jury next May.

The man, whose identity remains protected by a publication ban, pleaded not guilty to all five of his charges Monday, as he appeared by phone to be arraigned in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court. Ten days have been scheduled for his trial starting May 29, 2023.

The accused is alleged to have sexually assaulted a female multiple times beginning in 2001, when she was 12 years old. He’s accused of having assaulted her again as a teenager and most recently in 2012 and 2013.

The accused applied for a publication ban protecting his identity immediately after he was charged last year, which was granted on an interim basis until the court could hear submissions on it.

Court allows identity of Newfoundland lawyer charged with sexual assaults to remain secret

Over the course of two days in February, the accused’s legal team argued he would be deprived of dignity and the presumption of innocence and his reputation would suffer if his identity isn’t protected relative to the charges by a publication ban that would be lifted if he is eventually convicted.

The Crown and media outlets opposed the application for the ban, citing the open-court principle and public interest.

Justice James Adams determined a publication ban on the accused’s name would interfere with both and would amount to a significant change in law.

“Justice done in secrecy is contrary to the tenets of a democratic society,” Adams wrote in his decision, explaining the court’s implementation of the ban could deter other complainants and witnesses with information about similar allegations from coming forward.There is far too much secrecy in Canadian courts as it is.

The ban would also affect the public’s right to see everyone charged with a criminal offence treated fairly, Adams determined.

Under Canadian law, a publication ban is mandatory to protect the identity of a complainant in a sexual assault case, and the ban will extend to the accused if the publication of the accused’s name would cause the complainant to be identified. Otherwise, the identity of those accused of sexual assault is not generally banned from publication.

Publication bans extend not only to news media but to any publication or broadcast, including social media.

“The applicant did not meet the test for a common-law publication ban,” Adams ruled. “His engaged interests amounted to no more than personal and professional embarrassment and possible loss of business.”

After subsequently hearing further arguments from counsel, Adams issued a temporary stay of his own decision to allow the accused time to try and appeal it to the Supreme Court of Canada.

St. John’s lawyer’s efforts to keep name out of press flies in the face of democracy, ‘Thousands upon thousands of people in this province charged with crimes … would have loved to have had their cases heard in some room where the press hadn’t been permitted’ by Bob Wakeham, April 13, 2022, Saltwire

Though there are probably no shortage of highfalutin legal arguments —complete with ponderous jargon only learned in an expensive law school — being voiced by the team fighting to have the name of a St. John’s lawyer charged with serious crimes hidden from the public, this entire scenario inevitably amounts to, in the language of the street, an effort to protect the arse of the accused from embarrassment.

Believe me, there’s rarely been a soul who’s appeared before a judge in Newfoundland who hasn’t wished his or her name would not appear in local papers or on the electronic airwaves (except the odd sociopath weirdly enamoured with criminal notoriety).

The only difference in this case, which has garnered understandable national attention, is that the lawyer, charged with a number of sexual crimes, including one alleged incident when the complainant was 12, apparently has the wherewithal (the money) and the resources (the legal contacts) to try and keep his name shielded.

Thus, there are lawyers in Toronto and St. John’s doing their damnedest to make sure their client, their colleague, does not have to suffer the indignation of having his name known as his case proceeds through the courts.

Although Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice James Adams judge ruled that an earlier ban on the publication of the lawyer’s name was improper, he subsequently decided that the ban, in fact, should remain in place pending a Supreme Court of Canada adjudication on the matter; in other words, the highest court in the land will be the ultimate arbiter on whether this unnamed lawyer will continue to be given what would amount to extraordinary treatment during his time in court.

Importance of open court

Thousands upon thousands of people in this province charged with crimes, both the serious and the trivial, would have loved to have had their cases heard in some room where the press hadn’t been permitted, or where the press had been muzzled.

But, at the risk of sounding highfalutin myself, an open courtroom is a basic tenet of any democracy and ensures reporters are able to do their jobs properly while observing on behalf of the public the judicial system in operation. And it’s the reason the CBC and NTV have gone to the courts (to their credit) to prevent this disconcerting ban from continuing, to ensure it does not become a dangerous precedent, to pull it back from the precipice of an awfully slippery slope.

As you can well imagine, I spent many a day in Newfoundland courtrooms while employed as a reporter at The Telegram, and also managed (and expanded) court coverage during my time running the television newsroom at the CBC. I’ve seen first-hand the mortification of people charged with crimes when they realize journalists and camera crews are in the room to document the event.

They were never overjoyed to see us.

Publication ban protecting identity of St. John’s lawyer accused of sexual offences could keep victims from coming forward by Brian Hodder, April 18, 2022, Saltwire In my view, that’s the intent: Gotta help lawyers rape. Judges, priests, the rich and powerful tell us we must let boys be boys, like the oil & gas frac’rs. Why else would law societies licence known convicted pedophiles giving them protected access to and power over children?!

In our democracy, we have a legal system in which everyone is supposed to be equal under the law and receive equal treatment when going through the justice system.

While there are some checks and balances which strive to live up to this ideal, in reality, people who have more money and can therefore afford better lawyers often have a better chance of favorable outcomes.

For the most part, being wealthy or privileged does not have an impact on how individual cases in our justice system are covered by the media; however, a case presently working through a St. John’s court has the potential of tying the hands of media outlets and preventing them from publishing the name of a local lawyer accused of a serious crime.

Court allows identity of Newfoundland lawyer charged with sexual assaults to remain secret, for now

The unnamed lawyer is charged with a number of sexual offences that occurred over several years, including one charge alleged to have happened when the complainant was only 12 years old. When the charges were called in court, the lawyer’s legal team argued for a publication ban on the name of the accused, which was granted by the presiding judge. This ban was challenged by local media outlets and Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice James Adams subsequently ruled that the original ban was not proper. However, because his ruling was then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, the ban was kept in place until the highest court in the nation rules on the matter.

Regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused lawyer, something which will ultimately be determined once the case proceeds, the accused has already received treatment that would not have been available to someone who was poor and facing the same charges. It takes time before cases are heard by the Supreme Court of Canada and it’s quite possible the original case may be finished before the appeal is heard.

Having the money and legal skills to delay this procedure allows the accused to keep their name out of the public and continue to practice law in front of the same court that will be hearing their case. And or, more importantly, to let the accused keep raping protected by powerful lawyers and judges?

The public is left wondering who this person is and whether the lawyer they turn to for help may turn out to be someone who isn’t safe; this speculation is not healthy for anyone practicing law here.

While much of the attention around this case has been about the legal gymnastics surrounding the ban, a much more serious issue is at stake. By the very nature of their position, a lawyer is in a position of authority within our justice system and it must have been extremely difficult for the complainant to come forward with these allegations. The perpetrator exerting power over the victim lies at the crux of sexual assault cases and this is exasperated when the accused perpetrator is in a position of authority. Having the accused protected by the courts in the way that is happening in this case further reinforces this power imbalance, will likely cause the complainant to feel revictimized by the court process and make it less likely that people will come forward in such cases in future.

All by design – to let rapists, especially those with power and money, keep raping unimpeded. It’s the same design used by frac’ers. Listen to Alberta Energy Regulator’s outside counsel, “Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year 2022” Glenn Solomon of JSS Barristers in Calgary, give legal advice to a frac-harmed Albertan. Solomon details how oil companies and their self regulators overpower victims to hide crimes so that companies can keep contaminating drinking water again and again “down the street.” Creepy Caveman Canada.

People who work with those who have experienced sexual assault are already aware that most will not come forward to have the person who assaulted them charged because of how difficult the court process can be. It’s difficult to prove and many accused eventually go free; for many victims, their only justice comes in having the accused deal with what they did in the public forum of a court and the media scrutiny that usually accompanies it. If the Supreme Court of Canada rules in favour of the lawyer, it would set a dangerous precedent that could affect others for years to come.

Our system, thus far, has used publication bans to help protect the identity of victims of crime. Where is the public good being served in protecting the identity of the accused in this case?

Brian Hodder works in the field of mental health and addictions. He can be reached at email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Court allows identity of Newfoundland lawyer charged with sexual assaults to remain secret, for now, Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice James Adams has issued a stay of his decision to lift a publication ban while the accused attempts to appeal it by Tara Bradbury, March 25, 2022, Saltwire

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The publication ban protecting the identity of a Newfoundland lawyer charged with multiple sexually-based crimes will remain in place — for now.

Friday morning, Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice James Adams, who had ruled earlier in the week that the ban would be lifted, issued a temporary stay of his decision until the accused can appeal it.

The man is charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and sexual interference against a female over a period of years beginning when she was a child; the earliest assault is alleged to have occurred in 2001, when she was 12 years old. He was charged with three counts last spring, when he successfully sought an interim ban on his identity until a hearing on the issue could be held. Police charged him with two more offences last December.

Over the course of a two-day hearing in February, the lawyer’s legal team submitted he would be deprived of dignity and the presumption of innocence if his identity isn’t withheld related to the charges, and his reputation would suffer. They argued a publication ban on his identity would still allow public access to the court and give media outlets the freedom to report on the case and would be lifted if he is eventually convicted. In an affidavit the accused said publication of his name in relation to the charges would have a “significant social, psychological and emotional impact” on him.

The Crown and media outlets opposed the application for the ban, citing the open-court principle and public interest. Adams determined a publication ban on the accused’s name would interfere with both.

“Justice done in secrecy is contrary to the tenets of a democratic society,” Adams wrote in his original decision.

“In protecting the applicant’s reputation by issuing a ban on his identity, the court would be seriously impacting the public interest in encouraging persons with relevant information about similar allegations from coming forward.”

“Justice done in secrecy is contrary to the tenets of a democratic society.”

— Justice James Adams

Such a ban would also affect the public’s right to see all individuals charged with criminal offences treated fairly, the judge wrote.

Under Canadian law a publication ban is mandatory to protect the identity of a complainant in a sexual assault case, and the ban will extend to the accused if the publication of the accused’s name would cause the complainant to be identified. Otherwise, the identity of those accused of sexual assault is not generally banned from publication.

Publication bans extend not only to news media but to any publication or broadcast, including social media.

“The applicant did not meet the test for a common law publication ban,” Adams ruled. “His engaged interests amounted to no more than personal and professional embarrassment and possible loss of business.”

In making submissions for a stay of the decision, the lawyer’s legal team argued that it would be impossible to undo the damage if his name were released before his appeal application is addressed.

The accused has denied each of the allegations in an affidavit presented to the court as part of his application. Criminal proceedings are ongoing.

Personal embarrassment and potential loss of business don’t justify a publication ban, judge tells Newfoundland lawyer charged with sexual assaults, Lawyer is arguing for the continuation of a temporary ban until he appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada by Tara Bradbury · Reporter, March 24, 2022, Saltwire

A lawyer charged with sexually based crimes against a female — starting when she was a child — will be back in court in St. John’s Friday morning, March 25, for further arguments on his application for a publication ban on his identity.

Earlier this week, the court rejected the lawyer’s application for the ban, having heard submissions from his legal team as well as opposing arguments from the Crown and lawyers for two media outlets. The lawyer is now requesting that a temporary ban on his identity remain in place until he can appeal the decision to the country’s top court.

… The Crown initially didn’t take a position on the application, but later made submissions opposing it, saying the presumption of innocence guarantees the accused a fair trial, but doesn’t protect him from public embarrassment. A publication ban in this case would mean everyone charged with a crime could make the same application, the Crown argued, submitting the law doesn’t recognize special treatment for lawyers.

CBC and CTV, which were granted intervenor status, made similar arguments, submitting the accused’s personal interests don’t justify a publication ban, which would undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.

… “The applicant did not meet the test for a common law publication ban,” Adams ruled. “His engaged interests amounted to no more than personal and professional embarrassment and possible loss of business. These concerns did not meet the high bar of constituting an important public interest to which court openness would pose a serious risk.”

The lawyer intends to try to appeal Adams’ decision to the Supreme Court of Canada and will argue Friday for the interim ban on his identity to continue pending that appeal.

N.L. lawyer reprimanded for sex with client by CBC News, May 16, 2010

A lawyer from Conception Bay South on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula has been reprimanded for having sex with a client.

Robert Regular ran afoul of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador after the woman filed a complaint saying she had a long-term relationship with him, even while he was representing her.

Although the law society didn’t agree with her complaint that Regular was in a conflict of interest in the last years of their relationship, it said Regular broke the rules by having sex with a client.

Regular went to court to have that decision overturned. But in a recent ruling, Justice Richard LeBlanc found Regular had failed to act with integrity.

The issue has been sent back to a panel of the law society to decide further punishment.Self-regulating legal industry farce.

The list of accused and or convicted Canadian Pedophile Lawyers grows longer and longer and longer.

LSO, self regulator of lawyers “is a shield for corrupt lawyers.” Yup, and it licences known convicted pedophiles giving them protected access to children.

Law Society of Ontario (LSO) a Pedophile Ring? Racism, misogyny *and* enabling sexual abuse of children? Ottawa lawyer, John David Coon, in custody for sex crimes against four-year old daughter of one of his clients. LSO documents reveal they gave Coon licence to practise law despite knowing of his prior criminal conviction for sexually assaulting another child. *And* LSO licenced Donald (“Donnie”) Davidovic knowing of his child porn conviction, deemed him to be of “good character” *and* let convicted pedophile senior lawyer Martin Schulz keep his licence to practice law!

‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ Sketch: “Judges: a danger to Canadian women.” This post includes many articles on horrifying misogynistic Canadian (Caveman) judges

Misogynistic Justice. Rapist after rapist set free by Canadian judges. Think those judges will let you seek justice if your water is frac’d by Encana, covered-up by authorities with AER violating your Charter rights trying to terrify you into submissive silence, enabled by Supreme Court of Canada?

Our Justice system appears to be set up to condone violence by men against women and children. The perps lawyer just has to get him into some wishy washy counselling and then our courts bring the kids gloves out and the victim seems to be the one on trial.

If anyone reading this can stomach watching horror shows where the bad evil monster always walks away happily into the sunset just go down to a provincial courtroom and watch how victims of violence are deliberately shattered by having the blame shifted to them. This is especially the case when the victim is female or a child of either sex. …

Do you want fairness, equality, diversity, inclusion in Canada’s legal profession? In 2019, 85% of the legal profession in USA is white and mostly male. No wonder so many sexual assault victims are re-victimized in court by judges and known convicted pedophiles are granted licence to practice law!

Gillian Hnatiw, Canadian lawyer, female: “Fundamentally, the law is about power – who has it, who gets it, and how they are allowed to wield it. … Yet evidence of misogyny remains all around us. Lest anyone forget, there is a self-confessed sexual predator in the White House. … In Canada, we’re not faring a whole lot better…. All of our political leaders are men.”

Why wasn’t Nova Scotia legal profession’s most infamous sexual predator and Premier, Gerald Regan, disbarred? Simple: 1) He was a white man in Caveman Canada; 2) He was a lawyer in Caveman Canada; 3) He was in a position of power in Caveman Canada; 4) “Justice” is not available for raped women (or the environment) in Caveman Canada, just expensive lawyers.

Investigation finds one of Australia’s most powerful men, “Sex Pest” former high court judge, Dyson Heydon, sexually harassed judicial clerks and women lawyers – WHILE HE WAS TOP JUDGE! Canadian judges hatch from lawyers. If lawyers are rats, what are they when they become judges, notably when put into power by rats in politics, many of whom are also lawyers?

2007: “Lawyers are Rats” A top legal scholar and ex-Bay Street partner exposes the corruption of his profession. “Self-regulation is regarded with quasi-religious fervour.”

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