The former special prosecutor in the investigation of Kash Heed will not receive further discipline for his "arrogance" in failing to disclose that his firm had donated to the embattled B.C. MLA's election campaign.
After a conduct review, the Law Society of B.C. has ruled that Terrence Robertson breached professional standards by not revealing that his firm donated $500 to Heed's 2009 campaign, but says that the Vancouver lawyer is sufficiently sorry for what he'd done.
"Terrence Robertson deeply regrets his actions, understands what he did wrong and steps have been taken to make sure it won't happen again. As a result, we are now closing the file, with no further action," chief legal officer Deborah Armour said in a release Friday.
The law society said, however, that Robertson should have consulted with someone before deciding to take on the job as special prosecutor.
"Senior lawyers are at serious risk of being over-confident in their own assessment of a situation and that can result in a form of arrogance," the society's discipline committee said.
Although the committee did not prescribe any further punishment for Robertson, conduct reviews are considered a form of discipline by the law society.
Robertson resigned his position as special prosecutor in the Heed case in May 2010 after the donation was revealed. Just one day earlier, Robertson had cleared Heed of all wrongdoing in the circulation of an illegal pamphlet in his Vancouver-Fraserview riding mere days before the election.
After the scandal broke, Robertson's law firm, Harper Grey LLP, announced that it would no longer make any political donations.
The firm had been a regular contributor to the BC Liberals, donating $8,500 to the party's 2009 election campaign alone. Robertson individually donated $1,000 to the party in 2009.
Robertson has also returned all legal fees paid to him during his time as special prosecutor.
After Robertson's resignation, lawyer Peter Wilson was appointed as the new special prosecutor in the Heed case.
According to a warrant filed in October 2010, RCMP are now investigating allegations that Heed was part of an elaborate scheme that took his constituency office's furniture allowance to pay the campaign workers who created the anti-NDP pamphlets at the centre of the investigation.
