A registered Florida sex offender, who spent two years in prison on a child pornography conviction, has been deemed to be of “good character” for a licence to practise law in Ontario. Ronald Ori Davidovic, 44, appeared before a three-member panel of the Law Society of Upper Canada tribunal last December in what is known as a “good character hearing,” where he sought to prove that he is rehabilitated and committed to upholding the law if allowed to practise. Counsel for the law society ultimately decided not to oppose his application, and Davidovic’s wish was granted by the panel in a 2-1 decision released last week. As a lawyer educated outside of Canada, Davidovic must still satisfy other criteria before being granted a licence to practise. “The applicant has thoroughly understood what he has done. He has worked very hard since (his arrest) to reach this point in terms of rehabilitation,” wrote panel members Raj Anand and Jan Richardson. “We therefore find that the applicant is of good character and grant his application for licensing as a lawyer in Ontario.”But the dissenting panel member, criminal defence lawyer Paul Cooper, found that there simply wasn’t enough evidence of rehabilitation before the tribunal, and said he would not have granted Davidovic’s application. “In this case, the applicant’s statements of regret at the hearing focused on the nightmare he suffers or the shame he suffers and as he describes in his testimony the ‘handicap’ of him being labeled as a consumer of child pornography by the community. Mr. Davidovic failed to recognize what he has done and only provides lip service to any victim empathy,” Cooper wrote. “There is insufficient evidence that the applicant is rehabilitated. The misconduct was sexually motivated and he possessed a magnetic attraction. He has been diagnosed with non-specified paraphilia and this diagn ...
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