Court dismisses appeal from disgraced law clerk

Ontario’s top court has dismissed an appeal by a former Niagara law clerk convicted of helping herself to almost $100,000 from her employer’s account and providing fraudulent divorce documents.

Barbara Booker was sentenced to 18 months in custody in 2021 following convictions on charges of fraud over $5,000 and uttering a forged document.

The 56-year-old defendant appealed both her conviction and sentence arguing, among other things, that the trial judge made incorrect findings of fact that resulted in an “unduly harsh” sentence and that she did not deserve to be behind bars.

In a decision released this week, Ontario Court of Appeal rejected her submissions and dismissed both appeals.

“In our view, the trial judge properly considered the appropriate sentencing range, the principles of deterrence and denunciation, restraint and totality, as well as the applicable aggravating and mitigating factors,” the Appeal Court wrote in its decision.

Booker also claimed the trial judge was “harsh and selective” when it came to how he assessed her evidence.

According to the appellant, the trial judge readily accepted her former boss’s explanations for potential inconsistencies in his evidence, but did the opposite for her and said he found her explanations showed “a deliberateness and intent to disguise or conceal the true state of affairs.”

The Appeal Court found no merit to the allegation.

Booker worked as a secretary, law clerk and bookkeeper at the firm of Richard A. Nabi & Associates in Fort Erie for 13 years, starting in 2002, up until the lawyer’s retirement in 2014.

The fraud conviction was in relation to 140 unauthorized cheques drawn on the trust and general accounts at the law firm, totalling close to $100,000, in 2013 and 2014.

The appellant had argued there was no evidence she benefitted financially, and that the trial judge erred in this inference.

The fraud conviction was in relation to 140 unauthorized cheques totalling close to $100,000