Man convicted of viewing child porn in U.S. wants to practise law in Ontario
A Canadian-born man jailed in Florida for viewing child pornography is one step closer to practising law in Ontario.
The tribunal of the Law Society of Upper Canada ruled in a written decision last week that Ronald Ori Davidovic was of “good character,” allowing his licensing application to proceed.
The document says Davidovic, who was born in Montreal and moved to Miami with his family as a child, was working as general counsel for a telecommunications company in Florida when he was arrested in early 2004.
The decision says investigators seized his computers, where they found images and videos of children and teenagers as well as regular pornography.
Davidovic pleaded guilty to one count of receiving images containing a visual depiction of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct and was sentenced to five years in prison, later knocked down to three years. He is also registered as a sex offender in Florida.
He resigned from the Florida bar but could have reapplied in 2010. Instead, he applied to practise in Ontario, saying he planned to move to Toronto, where he has family.
Two members of the three-person tribunal panel ruled Davidovic passed the “good character” requirement of the licensing process, saying he has taken responsibility and expressed remorse for his actions, and has not reoffended.
“We therefore find that the applicant is of good character and grant his application for licensing as a lawyer in Ontario,” wrote Raj Anand and Jan Richardson.
A spokeswoman for the law society said Friday the tribunal only ruled on Davidovic’s “good character” — a requirement for licensing — but the application was ongoing. She acknowledged the language of the decision caused some confusion over whether Davidovic was granted permission to practise law.
Davidovic, in his 40s, has completed more than 300 hours of mandated therapy and more than 500 hours of additional therapy, and started volunteering with an organization that educates media, legislators and the public about issues relating to sex offenders, Anand and Richardson said.
“It has been over 13 years since the commission of the offences, and nine years since the applicant completed his sentence. He has tried to reinvent himself, with a significant measure of success thus far, to make a new life,” they wrote.
“The applicant’s conduct in the years preceding 2004 was reprehensible, but it is not an automatic or permanent bar to his admission, given the evidence and positions of the parties, and in light of the applicant’s determination to be an ethical and productive lawyer.”
One panel member opposed the decision, arguing Davidovic failed to clear all doubts about his good character and his credibility.
While Davidovic provided reports by a social worker and a forensic psychologist, among others, that indicated his chance of relapse was very low, those were written several years ago, Paul M. Cooper wrote.
“I do not believe the evidence shows on a balance of probabilities that he is rehabilitated nor that he fully comprehends victim empathy or remorse,” Cooper said.
Davidovic said at his hearing the public “would have a valid concern that his actions affected his integrity” and he had been “selfish and arrogant,” the tribunal decision said.
But he stressed he “gained greater empathy for vulnerable individuals, and an understanding of victimization, as a result of going through the criminal justice system” and had shifted his priorities from material success to helping others and maintaining support systems.