Panel imposes deadline on lawyer Lyle Howe's disciplinary hearing

The panel hearing complaints against Halifax defence lawyer Lyle Howe has moved to bring his disciplinary hearing to a close.

The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society accuses Howe of professional incompetence and professional misconduct. Howe has countered by saying he is a victim of discrimination because of race. If found guilty, the lawyercould be disbarred.

The panel has sat for 60 days, spread out over 15 months. It has heard from about 40 witnesses and generated more than 10,000 pages of transcripts.

Closing arguments started last week and resumed Monday. Originally, the two sides had estimated they would take about a day each to sum up their cases. But when pressed Monday to provide the panel with a timeline, Howe's lawyer, Jeanne Sumbu, said she would need 14-18 more days to argue that his charter rights had been violated.

Shorter timeline

The panel balked at that suggestion.

"We're not here to take a university course, we're here to argue a case," panel chair Ron MacDonald told Sumbu.

He also said the arguments she had presented to that point could have been made in much less time.

Panel member Don Murray weighed in, saying complex cases are argued before the Supreme Court of Canada in a day or less.

After adjourning to consider Sumbu's request, the panel came back with a decision for a much shorter timeline.

Sumbu will have one more day to make the charter arguments, Howe will have two days to respond to the society's specific charges against him and the society will have one day to respond. It's all supposed to wrap up on April 19.

The CBC'sBlair Rhodes livebloggedfrom the hearing.