A Hamilton lawyer who provided heroin to a friend, who then died of an overdose at her home, has been ordered to undergo a medical assessment before she can resume practising law.

Sarah Jackson, who was called to the bar in 2003 and has primarily practised civil litigation, admitted before a Law Society Tribunal discipline panel to providing the drug that killed Edward Cieslik.

Aside from the assessment ordered last month, the 39-year-old was also suspended for eight months, retroactive to May 2016, which was jointly recommended by counsel for the law society and Jackson’s lawyer.

“Because of the nature of the events and Ms. Jackson’s admissions of drug use, it is appropriate to require a medical examination before she returns to active practice, to ensure that she is able to serve the public,” wrote chair David Wright for the panel.

Jackson also admitted failing to report various criminal charges to the legal regulator, including impaired operation of a motor vehicle and possession of cocaine in 2012.

The panel heard that Jackson has not had an active licence since January 2013, as her criminal case relating to Cieslik’s death was moving through the courts. She was acquitted by a judge of manslaughter in 2014.

“This case was tragic, and raised a number of sensitive issues,” said lawyer John Dent, who represented Jackson before the discipline panel.

“Ms. Jackson agreed to a resolution which spared all involved the stress and trauma of a contested hearing. This has been a difficult process, but the suspension has now been served in full.”

Jackson had met Cieslik when they were teenagers going to school in Oshawa, the panel heard, but lost touch around 2003 and did not become reacquainted until 10 years later.

After refusing his request several times, Jackson agreed to help Cieslik get heroin. Wright wrote that both of them had “experience with non-prescription drugs,” but that Cieslik had never tried the drug before.

Jackson had previously been a regular user of heroin up until about a year prior, with a tolerance that allowed her to inject up to two grams a day, the panel heard.

On Jan. 19, 2013, the two were at Jackson’s home with half a gram of heroin, which Jackson divided into three doses. The first dose was unusable, and Jackson prepared the second dose, which she injected into Cieslik’s arm.

“After the injection, he tidied her kitchen and fed her plants,” Wright wrote. “They later sat and talked and listened to music. There was no indication anything was wrong.”

Later, Cieslik injected the third dose himself. Jackson put on a movie, while Cieslik went to sleep. The next morning, she discovered he had died. Jackson was charged with manslaughter and was held in custody until she was acquitted in May 2014.

Justice Bernd Zabel found that her actions of providing, dividing and injecting the heroin would have constituted the offence of trafficking (which she wasn’t charged with), but did not amount to manslaughter.

Cieslik’s sister, Charlene, said in a victim impact statement at the discipline hearing that the loss of her brother had shattered her family and that Jackson’s conduct was particularly shocking because of her profession.

“Knowing that she was a practising lawyer, and who, up until the week he died, was practising the law, is an added layer of insult. To find out that she had been charged with other offences that she kept from the (law society) for a year and a half, despite a requirement to report it, is similarly upsetting,” Cieslik wrote.

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“My brother paid a steep price in befriending her; in procuring heroin she introduced him to his death. The fact that this lawyer was a regular user of heroin — a dangerous, highly addictive, illegal, injected drug — causes me grave concern over the legal profession.

“I could never trust a person with such a history with my legal affairs. She was involved in the events that took my brother, which caused unimaginable pain to me and my family.”