Suspended lawyer ordered to pay $235,000 for ‘significant’ breach of trust in sex-for-services proposal

Suspended Ottawa lawyer James Bowie has been ordered to pay $235,000 to a former client – and plaintiff in a civil case against him – after he suggested he pay for his legal services with oral sex and provide personal information about her online after her allegations received media attention.

In an Oct. 11 decision, Supreme Court Justice Heather Williams wrote that Bowie’s behavior was “shocking” and a “violation of the court’s sense of decorum.”

“The relationship between lawyer and client is based on trust. This trust is why people can and do confidently bring their most intimate problems and all sorts of matters, large and small, to their lawyers,” Williams’ decision reads.

“In my view, the defendant’s campaign to exploit the circumstances of this vulnerable young client for his own gratification, followed by the public disclosure of her personal circumstances and confidential information, constitutes a serious breach of the duty of trust and confidence owed by a lawyer to a client.”

Williams ordered Bowie to pay Leanne Aubin $75,000 for breach of fiduciary duty, $65,000 in compensatory 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.

Didn’t defend himself

Bowie did not mount a defense to Aubin’s lawsuit.

In an affidavit, he wrote that the allegations against him, the subsequent “significant media coverage” and the “social, professional and financial consequences” left him with “crippling emotional distress.”

That heartache and his mental health issues made it “extremely difficult” to meet deadlines, he added.

Bowie was declared delinquent twice for failing to defend himself, and his former lawyer was struck off the record late last year.

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

Lawyer is overwhelmed in the process

At the hearing, attended by CBC, Aubin’s lawyer Christine Johnson teared up as she read Snapchat messages between her client and Bowie.

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

“I already told you that I prefer to pay [for legal services with] Cash as a head, [which is] a reference to oral sex,” Johnson said, reading a message Aubin sent to Bowie. “I’ve never done this before.” And as desperate as I am, I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret, at least until I know [my ex partner] doesn’t come back.

“It’s hot for me,” Bowie replied.

“Trying to save my life from failure doesn’t turn me on at all lol,” Aubin replied.

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

“I’m doing well. Sorry, I didn’t expect to be overwhelmed with emotion. I’m fine,” Johnson said and continued.

A few minutes later, Williams called a five-minute break.

Became a customer in 2022

Aubin met Bowie when she first needed a criminal defense attorney and a friend recommended him to her.

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

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

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

The charges against Aubin were later dropped after she contacted another attorney.

Offers to pay with sex were repeatedly rejected

In her decision, Williams wrote that when Aubin suggested a payment plan for his legal services, Bowie “knew he didn’t want any record” of what he would do next and suggested they communicate on Snapchat, a social Media website on which messages were sent will be deleted.

Eventually, Bowie offered to accept oral sex in lieu of money, Williams discovered. Aubin said no, but he continued to bring it up, telling Aubin he was proposing to her and sending her a photo of his penis.

(On the day of the hearing in January, Johnson told the court that she had brought a copy of the “Dick Pic” in a sealed envelope and that she could give it to the court if Williams wanted, but that she was also trying to do something save Williams didn’t see it. Williams decided it wasn’t necessary.)

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

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

Criminal trial postponed, postponed

Bowie is facing criminal charges in connection with Aubin’s allegations as well as other alleged crimes.

His judge-only trial at the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa began last month but had to be adjourned and then rescheduled after a one-day session due to problems encountered by his defense lawyer, Eric Granger.

Granger told CBC that these issues had nothing to do with Bowie’s case.

Bowie’s next appearance on the criminal charges is scheduled for January.

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