In a city where two innocent bystanders were killed by gunfire this summer, a firearms trial has itself become collateral damage thanks to a muddy disciplinary process involving a Hamilton lawyer.

Michael Puskas conceded during a Law Society Tribunal public hearing that he had failed to co-operate with a Law Society of Ontario (LSO) spot audit of his business. As a result, his law licence was suspended for one month as a penalty. But he was also handed an “interlocutory suspension,” which would prevent him from practising law until he complied with the audit.

However, the adjudicator made one unusual exception.

Puskas would be allowed to finish defending a client who is midway through a gun trial. The accused faces a firearms related charge as well as an assault charge.

The adjudicat

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