Former Ontario Bar Association president James Morton, shown in 2007, has been
charged with bigamy and forgery-related offences. (RICK
MADONIK / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)
A law student who was articling with Morton’s firm is alleged to have
submitted the false divorce documents at the Newmarket courthouse in April
on the instructions of law clerk Jennifer Packwood, Morton’s intended wife.
A courthouse clerk “was concerned about irregularities,” according to an
affidavit from law society investigator Brian Borg, which was filed as part
of Morton’s disciplinary
proceedings.
After the law student left the courthouse, the clerk called the police.
Borg said the court clerk discovered that the file number on the divorce
order was fictitious. The clerk also found out that the dockets for the two
judges named on the order showed they had not presided over any case
involving Morton and his wife, Justice of the Peace Rhonda Shousterman, who
presides in Newmarket.
Despite questions about the paperwork, Borg’s
affidavit said Morton was granted a certificate of divorce May 1, and he
married Packwood at a ceremony in Niagara on May 12.
Morton was arrested on June 26 on charges of bigamy, obstruction of justice
and forgery-related offences. His first court appearance was on Thursday in
Newmarket, and the case is back in court on Sept. 12.
The maximum sentence for a bigamy conviction is five years in prison.
The law society, which regulates the legal profession in Ontario, is asking
its tribunal to temporarily suspend Morton’s licence pending the outcome of his
disciplinary proceedings. A hearing for the law society’s motion to suspend or
restrict Morton’s licence is set for Aug. 13.
Morton’s lawyer, Stephen Bernstein, declined to comment to the Star.
Called to the bar in 1988, Morton practises law in Ontario and Nunavut,
and is a certified specialist in civil litigation. He is also former counsel
to the Association of Justices of the Peace of Ontario.
Morton unsuccessfully ran as the Liberal Party candidate in Oshawa in the
2011 federal election. According to a profile in the local newspaper at the
time, Morton held leadership positions within both the provincial and
federal Liberal parties. He and Shousterman had been married for more than
20 years by 2011.
“Listen, there’s nothing tremendously wrong with me,”
Morton said to Borg, the law society investigator, during an interview in
July, according to Borg’s affidavit.
“I have a strong and supportive spouse, I’ll call her that.”
Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter
covering legal affairs. Follow him on Twitter:
@JacquesGallant
