@amirattaran.bsky.social:
Lawyer here. It is nice to see the corruption of the Law Society of Ontario becoming public. Self-regulation ought to be abolished.
How much do Benchers get paid? Do abusive and or raping ones get special pay?
Law Society of Ontario CEO ‘no longer employed’ amid fallout from 50 per cent pay hike, Diana Miles’s departure follows news that the LSO had retained retired judge Dennis O’Connor to conduct an independent review of her new contract, which raised her annual salary by more than 50 per cent to nearly $1 million by Betsy Powell, Courts Reporter , March 6, 2025, Toronto Star
The Law Society of Ontario’s CEO, Diana Miles, “is no longer employed” by the legal regulator, the LSO said in a statement released late Wednesday evening.
No reasons were given, but her departure follows the revelation that the LSO had retained retired judge Dennis O’Connor to conduct an independent review of her employment contract that raised her annual salary by more than 50 per cent to nearly $1 million without the approval of the society’s governing board.
On Wednesday night, the board held a special, highly secretive, meeting to discuss O’Connor’s findings, which have not been made public.
“I thank Diana for her many years of service to the Law Society,” Treasurer Peter Wardle said in the statement. The LSO has appointed Priya Bhatia, the LSO’s executive director of professional development and competence???, as acting CEO. “Priya is a highly accomplished leader and administrator. The benchers and I look forward to working with her.”
The Law Society selfregulates the province’s 60,000 lawyers and 11,000 paralegals and is governed by a board of directors known as “benchers.” The board includes lawyers, paralegals and laypeople.
The controversy erupted in November when the Law Society’s compensation committee received a confidential consultant’s report outlining changes to Miles’s contract that saw her base salary increase to $936,000, from just under $600,000No wonder most Canadians are unable to afford to even try to enter the closed doors of the legal club.
The former treasurer, Jacqueline Horvat, negotiated the contract before she was appointed as a justice of the Ontario Superior Court in Windsor last summer.
Her successor, Peter Wardle, notified the board six months later.
Many benchers who make up the Law Society’s board expressed concern; prompting the Law Society to hire a human resources and compensation firm to conduct a comprehensive review of the CEO’s position. It concluded that the CEO’s compensation had been “significantly below market.” Last month, Law Times reported that Wardle retained the services of a consulting firm that expressed concern about the report used to justify Miles’ raise.
The firm told the LSO that the pay hike was “unusual in the market and uncharacteristic for a senior executive role.”
In 2023, Miles’s base salary was $595,000 with the possibility for a 20 per cent performance bonus. The report recommended her total compensation be increased to between $749,400 and $1,124,100.
The new contract resulted in a base salary increase of 57 per cent, but did away with the performance bonus; Miles also received a retroactive payment of $226,000 for a pension adjustment.
According to an online biography, Miles joined the Law Society in 2001 and held several positions before being appointed CEO in 2018.
The Law Society has a mandate “to protect the public interest, to maintain and advance the cause of justice and the rule of law, to facilitate access to justice for the people of Ontario and to act in a timely, open and efficient manner.”
Mandate Schmandate. LSO sounds like AER. LSO Reality Check:
End LSO Reality Check.
More to come.
Refer also to:
2023:
