The Law Society of Upper Canada and Toronto police agree on the importance of reporting alleged fraud by lawyers — the only question now is when and how that information should be shared.

Law Society treasurer Janet Minor and Police Chief Bill Blair met on Tuesday after a Star investigation revealed that Toronto police are not receiving timely information about suspected financial crimes.

Minor described the meeting as “positive and productive,” and said it is the beginning of an ongoing effort to “streamline communication” with police.

“Certainly, we agree that we should be reporting at our earliest appropriate opportunity,” she said. “Beyond that, it would really be premature to talk about what we are ultimately going to do. That will evolve through these discussions.”

She said both parties confirmed “that the current information-sharing system is not broken,” and “are committed to continuous improvements.”

Police spokesman Mark Pugash said the discussion on Tuesday made clear that “there is good will on both sides” to improve the relationship.

He said the specifics about how the law society reports information to police are still being hammered out.

“We discussed that with them, and we understand the constraints under which they are working, but we also have investigative demands,” he said. “Time is often of the essence in these cases where money is involved.”

An ongoing Star probe has repeatedly raised questions about whether the law society has the power under provincial law to report bad lawyers to police — and whether it is making sufficient use of that ability.

The law society has previously described its relationship with police as “proactive,” and said it can and does report lawyers to law enforcement in certain circumstances, but has refused to provide a single example of this, despite repeated requests.

A Peel police officer who investigated a $10-million fraud by a Mississauga lawyer criticized the law society in May for failing to report a previous incident involving the same lawyer several years earlier, in which the lawyer was disciplined for “misappropriating” $300,000.

In October, a former law society investigator told the Star that privacy guidelines prohibited investigators from reporting suspected crimes to police.

And last month, Pugash said he was “puzzled by the varying statements (the law society had) made about what their position is” on this issue. After reviewing a list of cases in which lawyers were both disciplined by the law society and charged criminally, police found the law society was “nowhere near as helpful as they could be,” Pugash said.

On Tuesday, Minor said she could not comment on individual cases or “past events.”

“This is an evolving process and, as we have agreed with (Police Chief Bill Blair), it’s always possible to improve,” she said. “That’s what we have to focus on — the going forward.”

She said the law society’s “ongoing policy” on reporting suspected crimes to police is reflected in a document that was posted on the regulator’s website in October. It states that the law society “will report to law enforcement where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a licensee … has been involved in criminal or illegal activity.”

According to Minor, this is the policy that has always been in place, and was outlined on the website “for greater understanding of the public.”

The law society has no immediate plans to meet with other law enforcement agencies in the province, but Minor said she “wouldn’t put it out of the question.”

“We will meet as required, and we are happy to meet with anyone who wants to discuss it,” she said.

As a result of Tuesday’s meeting, Toronto police have designated an officer in the financial crimes unit to communicate with the law society, Pugash said. Meanwhile, law society spokeswoman Susan Tonkin said the regulator will name a “designated contact to discuss next steps.”

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“It always helps if you have a specific contact,” Pugash said. “Relationships build up that make it much easier to reach out and discuss situations of mutual interest.”

A Star analysis revealed last year that that more than 230 lawyers disciplined by the law society since 2003 for criminal-like activity stole, defrauded or diverted some $61 million held in trust funds for clients. Fewer than one in five of those lawyers were charged criminally. Most avoided jail.

Unlike in most other provinces, the Law Society of Upper Canada did not, as a rule, report bad lawyers to police, the Star found.

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