Updated: June 24, 2018
Robert James Miller, a long-established criminal lawyer with offices in L’Orignal and Cornwall, has been accused of billing legal aid for trials that never happened.
Miller, according to the Law Society of Ontario, is accused of overbilling legal aid by $214,000.
Some of the allegations include:
• That Miller billed fees for contested trials when the case had been resolved by either a guilty plea or withdrawal of charges in 24 instances;
• That Miller billed for services for separate clients on the same date and time in 142 instances;
•That the lawyer billed for running bail hearings that never happened, 46 times;
• That Miller billed for filing charter motions that never happened, 25 times;
• That he billed for four preliminary hearings that never happened;
• That he billed fees for defending DNA applications nine times when the Crown hadn’t actually filed any;
• That he billed 13 times for judicial pre-trials that never happened; and
• That he provided detailed accounts that purported to support the hours billed that contained false or misleading information in 19 instances.
The law society, which governs lawyers, alleges that Miller overbilled from May 17, 2005, to July 12, 2007, and says he “failed to conduct himself in a way that maintains the integrity of the profession.”
The law society tribunal hearing division also alleges that Miller, licensed in 1989, failed to maintain “contemporaneous detailed records in support of his accounts to the (Law Society of Ontario).”
No date has been scheduled for Miller’s law society hearing.
The lawyer, who has done everything from drug to homicide cases, is vehemently denying that he defrauded legal aid.
In a statement to this newspaper, Miller said he is innocent and has always held himself to the highest ethical standards.
“I have never defrauded Legal Aid Ontario in any way. The allegations of professional misconduct made by the law society arise from allegations going back to 2005 through 2007. I have retained counsel and have instructed him to contest these allegations vigorously,” Miller said.
“I am presumed to be innocent. I am confident that the hearing panel will find that I am not guilty of any regulatory offences,” he said.
Miller said overbilling happened between 2005 and 2007. He blamed his own inadequate supervision. He said he was working 80 hours a week and had management issues that were a direct cause of what he described as billing irregularities.
Miller said he was not aware of it at the time and that he has fully co-operated with Legal Aid Ontario to get to the bottom of the matter.
He said he immediately started to pay back all the money and that he has repaid 75 per cent of it so far and will continue until “each and every dollar has been repaid.”
“I have been a legal aid service provider for almost 30 years and feel privileged to be able to assist those less fortunate members of society on legal aid certificates. I have always valued and respected the trust that Legal Aid Ontario has placed in me.”
The disciplinary hearing has not been scheduled and lawyers for Miller and the governing body are working on narrowing the issues and an agreed statement of facts with the hopes of resolving the allegations as quickly as possible.
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