FLAP OVER SWITCHED LAWYERS

Calgary Counsel Ousted Some Edmonton Ones at Huge Conspiracy Trial

EDMONTON -- The start of Edmonton's large Asian drug-gang conspiracy trial
yesterday instead turned into a clash between Edmonton and Calgary lawyers.

It all began yesterday morning in the $2.1-million Edmonton super-courtroom
built to hold the Court of Queen's Bench trial of 33 alleged members of the
Trang family gang under federal gang-busting legislation.

As lawyers stood up to say which of the accused they were representing, it
was revealed some accused had hired out-of-town lawyers to replace their
existing ones.

There were six Edmonton lawyers replaced and in one case the local lawyer
learned for the first time that he'd been fired in open court before his
peers.

At one point, Edmonton lawyer Steve Fix stood up to address the
out-of-towners.

"As a member of the Law Society I am disappointed by some of my colleagues,"
said Fix, who appeared visibly upset.

"I would just like to say to my Calgary colleagues that this is not the way
we practise in Edmonton."

Kevin Moore, one of the local lawyers who was fired, said he was not
contacted by the lawyer who replaced him.

"I didn't get contacted and I would have liked that," said Moore. "Common
courtesy dictates that."

Eric Macklin, the president-elect of the Law Society of Alberta, says it's
against the society's code of conduct for a lawyer to interfere with an
existing file between a client and an existing lawyer to get that client's
business.

And according to the society, if a lawyer is asked to take over a file and
told the previous lawyer has been fired, it is usual for a courtesy call to
be placed to that lawyer.

Macklin said the society will investigate any complaints.

Later, in a separate court, one Calgary lawyer, Mary Brebner, said: "We only
know these clients contacted us and asked us to represent them."

Meanwhile, court heard there could be further delays in the gang trial due
to a flurry of pre-trial motions as well as the newly hired lawyers needing
to get up to speed.

Lawyer Hartley Silver even told Justice Mel Binder he expects a jury trial
could last up to two years. The trial was originally set for six months.

The alleged cocaine-dealing gang members were arrested following a massive
police operation in Edmonton, Red Deer and Fort McMurray in September 1999.

The 14-month operation, which cost $750,000, targeted one of two Asian-based
drug gangs involved in a shooting war in Edmonton that killed two people and
injured three others in the summer of 1999.