ManitobaA Winnipeg lawyer found guilty of more than a dozen professional charges earlier this year has been disbarred, after a disciplinary panel found the protection of the public and the need to preserve confidence in the integrity of the legal profession “demands his removal.”Paul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa argued law society was ‘unnecessarily harsh’ in demanding disbarment from panelCaitlyn Gowriluk · CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2025 5:34 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours agoPaul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa of the Winnipeg-based Shawa Law Office was found guilty of breaching the Law Society of Manitoba’s code of conduct in a decision given in June. (Smokehouse Design Co.)A Winnipeg lawyer found guilty of more than a dozen professional charges earlier this year has been disbarred, after a disciplinary panel found the protection of the public and the need to preserve confidence in the integrity of the legal profession “demands his removal.”Paul Sydney Vyamucharo-Shawa of Winnipeg-based Shawa Law Office was found guilty of a total of 17 charges of breaching the Law Society of Manitoba’s code of conduct in a decision handed down in June.In a decision this week, a disciplinary panel subsequently ordered Vyamucharo-Shawa be disbarred effective immediately upon his lawyer receiving the reasons for decision. It also ordered that he pay costs of $60,000 to the law society.The lawyer’s history on the Law Society of Manitoba’s website says he was called to the bar in 1989.The discipline decision said Vyamucharo-Shawa, who has a significant prior discipline record that includes being suspended three times, “continues to exhibit the same conduct and continues to make the same types of errors in judgment for which he has been sanctioned in the past.””He has not learned from his past mistakes nor from his past sanctions, several of which have been significant, and to that extent may well be perceived as ungovernable. If he is permitted to continue, or resume, practice, there is a strong likelihood he will reoffend,” it said.Vyamucharo-Shawa was accused of recording conversations with clients and other lawyers without informing participants of his intentions, and of sending correspondence that was ‘abusive, offensive or otherwise inconsistent with a proper tone of a professional communication from a lawyer.’ (Belenos/Shutterstock)In its submissions before the panel, the law society argued Vyamucharo-Shawa should be disbarred, noting he showed no remorse at any point in the proceedings, and has “done nothing since his convictions two months earlier to redress, or even acknowledge, the harms resulting from his misconduct.””His lengthy discipline history shows the member is incapable of rehabilitation. The society has no faith that he will practise with integrity, and there is a significant risk that he will reoffend,” the decision said.Meanwhile, Vyamucharo-Shawa argued the society was “being unnecessarily harsh” in demanding disbarment, and said for many years he’d been required to disclose to his clients and opposing counsel that he practised under supervision — something that “has been, and continues to be, difficult and shaming, [in] particular for a professional in a solo practice,” he said.He also argued if the panel was considering disbarment, he should instead be allowed to resign his membership and given about nine months to “wind up” his practice.However, the panel said it found “none of the usual ‘mitigating circumstances'” to justify letting the lawyer resign instead of being disbarred.’Continues to maintain that he did nothing wrong’The lawyer’s most recent trouble with the law society included three different citations since spring 2022, accusing him of acts including breaching an undertaking to the law society, breach of integrity, and failure to be courteous, civil and act in good faith, along with failure to treat the court with candour, courtesy and respect.He was accused of recording conversations with clients and other lawyers without informing participants of his intentions, and of sending correspondence that was “abusive, offensive or otherwise inconsistent with a proper tone of a professional communication from a lawyer.”Vyamucharo-Shawa, who was in his early 60s at the time of the conduct, was found guilty by a three-person panel on 17 of the 20 charges he faced in three separate citations — one filed in May 2022, and others filed in February and March 2024.His previous discipline record also includes instances of trying to mislead the law society, failing to act with integrity and failure to comply with trust accounting rules, his latest discipline decision said.That decision noted previous panels showed empathy for past situations in which Vyamucharo-Shawa found himself and were satisfied he had “acted without malice, was motivated by a sincere desire to assist others less fortunate, acknowledged his wrongdoing, and took positive steps to ameliorate the harms caused by his misconduct.”But that was not the case this time, the latest decision said.”With respect to all of the charges and, in particular, those on which he was convicted, the member continues to maintain that he did nothing wrong,” it said.”Absent such an acknowledgment, the possibility of ‘remediating’ or ‘rehabilitating’ him appears remote. That there will be any changes in his behaviour — regardless of the sanctions imposed by this panel short of disbarment — seems unlikely.”ABOUT THE AUTHORCaitlyn Gowriluk has been writing for CBC Manitoba since 2019. Her work has also appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, and in 2021 she was part of an award-winning team recognized by the Radio Television Digital News Association for its breaking news coverage of COVID-19 vaccines. Get in touch with her at caitlyn.gowriluk@cbc.ca.Follow Caitlyn Gowriluk on X
Lawyer found guilty of misconduct disbarred, deemed ‘incapable of rehabilitation’: law society
