Vancouver family lawyer suspended by Law Society for actions a B.C. judge called ‘blackmail’
Posted June 8, 2020 5:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A well-known Vancouver family lawyer has been suspended by the Law Society of B.C., and ordered to pay almost $19,000 dollars in court costs.
Jack Hittrich was disciplined for his actions during an adoption case involving a Métis toddler, for which he was previously blasted by the B.C. Supreme Court for acting “zealously,” in trying to “blackmail” B.C.’s director of adoptions.
In the decision released Monday, the Law Society says Hittrich must serve a three-month suspension beginning July 1st, and must begin making payments as of October 31st.
This is in addition to $22,500 in costs he has already been ordered to pay by the courts.
Hittrich had been representing B.C. foster parents who had raised the child since birth, who were opposed to the ministry’s decision to move the child to live with siblings in a non-Metis family in Ontario.
In a bid to stop the move, Hittrich threatened to expose alleged perjury unless the director of adoptions settled the lawsuit in favour of his clients.
This is not the only controversial B.C. family law case Hittrich has been involved in.
He previously represented a mother in a custody battle that saw four children torn away from their father.
In that case, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the father had sexually abused his children – largely relying on testimony provided by a fraudulent expert witness with “diploma mill” credentials.
That case was overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal.
