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An Ottawa criminal lawyer representing one of the accused in the University of Ottawa sex assault trial in Thunder Bay has been suspended for three months.

After an investigation, the Law Society of Ontario’s tribunal found Christian Jacques Deslauriers guilty of professional misconduct for incidents between June 2010 and Sept. 2011, where Deslauriers allowed a law student to run his legal aid practice.

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According to a ruling from Feb. 23, Deslauriers contravened the law society’s rules of professional conduct given the woman was not authorized to represent clients.

Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“Commencing in September 2011, the respondent failed to satisfy himself that the student-at-law, once her articles of clerkship were completed, was properly licensed and, as such, failed to prevent the unauthorized practice of law,” said the ruling.

Deslauriershas been ordered to pay the law society $12,500 within 18 months from the end of his suspension. Failing that, he will be charged three per cent per year for the unpaid portion.