Convicted lawyer still practicing

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by GEORGE MADDUX

Claude Hamann, a criminal lawyer for 28 years, has recently become a criminal/lawyer. In a rare legal development, the veteran Eastern Townships lawyer has been allowed to continue his practice in spite of a recent conviction for attempting to bribe a witness. He will be sentenced November 29 in Cowansville.

The lawyer's troubles started when he offered cash to a witness to botch his testimony against alleged drug dealer Ray Coulombe. The case against Coulombe was eventually dropped.

Hamann can practice his trade at least until his hearing at the Bar's Committee of Request. A date has yet to be determined for the hearing, according to Léon Bédard, director of communications for the Montreal Bar. "If the offence was related to the practice of his profession, then the committee could suspend him. While he's waiting for his hearing, he can practice."

Still considered one of the top defence lawyers in the region, Hamann has recently started representing Guy Hébert, accused of murdering Adam Verville on October 24, in a drug dispute at the Bedford Hotel. "It's the decision of the client to engage him," says Bédard. "If the client does it, he probably knows about the conviction. It doesn't necessarily mean that the lawyer can't exercise his practice."

Hamann says he has not yet been called onto the carpet at the Bar and plans to appeal his recent conviction. "A surgeon has the right to practice after making an error," he says. "It doesn't take his competence away."

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