Winnipeg lawyer disbarred at age 86 after 'a litany of transgressions'

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 10, 2025 12:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

An 86-year-old Winnipeg lawyer who practised for astir 59 years has been disbarred aft defying instrumentality nine orders to bounds the standard of her work — good aft she told the nine she planned to retire.

Caroline Cramer was cited successful aboriginal January for 12 abstracted transgressions, "which successful their totality suggest that she had go ungovernable arsenic a subordinate of the nine and, arsenic such, was blameworthy of nonrecreational misconduct," says a written determination by a sheet of the Law Society of Manitoba.

In response, Cramer agreed. The disbarment was a joint proposal enactment guardant by counsel for the instrumentality nine and Cramer during a proceeding connected Jan. 14.

The panel's written decision, which besides ordered Cramer to wage $13,600 successful costs, was released March 31.

In the decision, the sheet tipped its chapeau to Cramer for her fortitude successful becoming a lawyer successful the archetypal place. She was the lone pistillate successful her 1962 University of Manitoba instrumentality school graduating class.

'Sad' extremity to career

"It is bittersweet to spot a ineligible vocation of astir 59 years with lone a precise modest, previous record, extremity successful disbarment," the determination says. 

"In Ms. Cramer's case, we tin admit that her prime of instrumentality for a assemblage was peculiarly challenging successful a time erstwhile astir nary women chose it and those who did often were not respected oregon encouraged to continue.

"No doubt, implicit the decades she conscientiously served galore clients who were helped and grateful for her assistance."

The sheet besides thanked Cramer for admitting to her behaviour and, by agreeing to the associated recommendation, sparing erstwhile clients from having to testify.

The misconduct dates backmost to September 2020, when Cramer appeared earlier the instrumentality society's complaints probe committee to respond to "a number of complaints made regarding her practice," says the panel's mentation successful the decision, which did not elaborate connected the quality of those complaints.

The committee imposed a fig of restrictions connected her practice, primarily that she confine it to the areas of existent property and the mentation of wills and powers of attorney. She was besides told to negociate her workload by taking connected no more than 50 progressive files astatine a time.

She failed to comply, which led to the CIC ordering further restrictions successful October 2020. She was directed to adjacent oregon transportation each files unrelated to the restrictions imposed connected her and ordered to co-operate with a reappraisal of her practice.

Cramer again failed to comply and successful December 2020, she gave the nine a written undertaking (legal promise) to discontinue nary aboriginal than Feb. 14, 2021. Since that date, she has not been entitled to practise law, the sheet determination says.

However, she not lone continued to enactment connected files she opened anterior to the undertaking, she accepted caller enactment from clients.

In May 2021, "well aft the day she was to person ceased doing immoderate ineligible work," Cramer set up a concern arsenic a notary public, offering to reappraisal and authenticate documents, instrumentality oaths and supply ineligible documents, the sheet determination says.

She also continued to enactment connected existent property transactions, property medication and wills and estates, which "went good beyond the services notaries are permitted to perform," the determination says.

"Ms. Cramer improperly represented to members of the nationalist that she was still entitled to practise law."

Further, Cramer transferred more than $61,000 from her spot relationship to that of a corporation she controlled, thereby removing it from the audit jurisdiction of the instrumentality society. She past created inaccurate spot accounting records that were fixed to the nine to marque it look she was successful compliance with the undertaking, the determination says.

Discrepancies successful finances

She transferred lawsuit wealth to herself with nary ground for doing so, and determination were besides discrepancies successful fiscal ledgers astir cheque payments, the determination says.

Cramer besides attempted to transportation different members of the instrumentality nine to let her to use their names to facilitate existent property transactions arsenic she could nary longer implicit registrations done the Land Titles Office, and improperly utilized the sanction of 1 subordinate to record a petition for probate of a will.

In November 2021, she was suspended from practising law successful immoderate capacity. Court-appointed custodians were directed to instrumentality custody of all files and funds belonging to her clients.

But Cramer didn't co-operate with the custodians and didn't respond wholly oregon accurately to requests for accusation from the society's auditors and investigators, the determination says. She besides contested the society's jurisdiction implicit her connected the grounds that arsenic of Feb. 15, 2021, she was retired.

That argument, though, was dismissed by a instrumentality nine sheet successful May 2023.

In its March 2025 decision, the sheet said 17 clients and 3 different people were affected by Cramer's nonaccomplishment to upwind up her signifier erstwhile she was expected to, and by her repeated failures to provide implicit and close information.

By the day of the January hearing, however, each spot wealth had been accounted for.

"Ms. Cramer wholly mislaid show of that astir cardinal work of each lawyer, the work to dainty her clients, her governing assemblage and the tribunal with integrity," the sheet wrote successful its March decision.

Her conduct "amounted to a litany of transgressions that bespeak poorly connected the ineligible assemblage and could not assistance but erode spot successful her connected the portion of the nationalist and astir surely the society," the sheet said, agreeing the "only tenable people is to disbar her."