Philippe DioGuardi is a Canadian tax lawyer who has challenged the Law Society of Upper Canada over regulations that prevent lawyers from protecting their clients against actions by the Canada Revenue Agency. A headline in the Toronto Star newspaper on May 21, 2014 inaccurately claimed DioGuardi had been accused by the Law Society of cheating clients.
DioGuardi issued a statement of claim against the Toronto Star for defamation, citing that while he was indeed facing a conduct hearing, the headline was deliberately and maliciously misleading, since none of the allegations raised against him made reference to cheating clients.
In November 2015, DioGuardi reached a settlement with the regulator wherein he agreed to accept discipline for failing to serve a handful of clients, and agreed to amend his handling of client fees, despite his position that the Canada Revenue Agency is able to seize client fees before legal services are provided. He was given a token sentence of a suspension for six weeks. He agreed to this settlement in order to protect his children and his parents from repeated front page articles in the Toronto Star that ignored the facts of his dispute with the Law Society, focusing instead on salacious details of his personal life and his ongoing acrimonious divorce proceedings. These front page stories featured paparazzi-style photographs of himself and photos of his ex-wife copied from personal Facebook pages.
As part of his settlement agreement, the Law Society of Upper Canada acknowledged that DioGuardi was entitled to request a policy review of the rules governing protection of client fees. DioGuardi requested discussion of such a review in December 2015, and again in 2016. To date the Law Society has not responded to either request.
DioGuardi also challenged the Law Society Act with an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, claiming that the Law Society does not provide adequate protection to clients who choose to make complaints about a lawyer's conduct should the complaint proceed to a public hearing. Personal details of the client's legal matter are at risk of public disclosure, DioGuardi argued, and once a hearing begins the client has no power to redact information or stop the hearing process. When the client is a tax evader, or in a dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency, public disclosure of any details of their legal matter may trigger actions by the Canada Revenue Agency which could put the client at risk of investigation, possibly at the criminal level, or seizure of property. The Supreme Court dismissed DioGuardi's request for an appeal in February 2017.
Video Philippe DioGuardi
Firm Background
His practice is focused exclusively on remediation of problems with tax compliance and tax dispute litigation issues. His firm was among the first in Canada to offer the opportunity of a lawyer-protected tax amnesty for forgiveness of the serious penalties and risk of prosecution associated with unreported income and years of unfiled back taxes.
Maps Philippe DioGuardi
Background
DioGuardi was born in Hull, Quebec in 1961. His mother is French Canadian with roots in Quebec dating back to the 1700s. His father, Paul DioGuardi, an English Canadian from Ottawa, was a law student at the University in Kingston, Ontario. Philippe grew up fluent in English and French. His father took his call to the bar and worked in investigations with the Canada Revenue Agency, and thereafter for the Department of Justice, representing the tax agency in complex and high level criminal and international cases. As a boy DioGuardi often shared family dinners with CRA auditors and investigators, and even tax court judges. Eventually his father left the public sector to establish a private tax law practice in Ottawa.
Career
DioGuardi attended University of Ottawa Law School, earning degrees in both common law (L.L.B.) and the Quebec Civil Code ( LL.L). Called to the bar in Ontario and the Barreau du Québec, DioGuardi entered into private practice as a tax litigator, representing clients in civil and criminal matters in both languages in both Ontario and Quebec.
In 2004 he joined with his father to create a law firm focused exclusively on the resolution of taxpayer delinquencies and conflicts with the tax authorities. The DioGuardi Tax Law firm was among the first in Canada to assist taxpayers in the filing of a tax amnesty (voluntary disclosure) to resolve unreported income and unfiled back taxes. Originally located in downtown Ottawa, the firm set up offices in downtown Toronto in 2003, suburban Mississauga in 2007, and Vancouver, British Columbia in 2008. DioGuardi focused on understanding how the principles of civil litigation and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms could be utilized to protect ordinary taxpayers. Since 2003 DioGuardi has represented over ten thousand clients.
Books
In 2008, DioGuardi and his father co-authored The Taxman Is Watching, published by Harper Collins Canada. The book was on the Canadian business bestseller list for 10 weeks, and is still available from major booksellers.
DioGuardi and his father have been frequent guests on television and radio interview shows. Recent media appearances include CBC Radio One: Ontario Today, the Ted Woloshyn show on Talk Radio 1010 in Toronto, the Stephen LeDrew television show on CityTV, and national and local newspapers including the Toronto Star, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail. The two have been quoted in newspaper and magazine articles.
In July 2015, Paul DioGuardi is published a new book titled Never Smile at a Crocodile: Confessions of a Tax Traveller with Dundurn Press.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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