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The Law Society of Manitoba says it knew in 2003 about the case that involved lawyer Jack King allegedly showing sexually explicit pictures of his wife Lori Douglas to a client, but did not take any disciplinary measures at the time.

Ms. Douglas was appointed a judge two years later.

Officials from the society, which is responsible for disciplining lawyers, said the issue was brought to their attention in 2003, not long after the incident is alleged to have happened, through rumours circulating in the law community.

When no complainant came forward, they decided to make their own inquiries, said Kristin Dangerfield, senior general counsel at the Law Society of Manitoba.

"There was no formal disciplinary action that was taken, but certainly the law society took steps that it thought was appropriate to protect the public at that time," she said.

Mr. King was on a medical leave in 2003 and therefore not in active practice. He promised the law society not to return to work until he provided a medical report that said he was fit to do so.

"He did, in fact, provide that report," she said, adding that he returned to practice in April of 2004.

"The law society's mandate is to protect the public and we're confident the actions we've taken have had that effect," she said.

Ms. Dangerfield said there are many ways to deal with conduct matters without prosecution and that the law society takes a remedial approach. There are training programs in trust accounting, she said, and just six months ago, the law society started offering a program that would help lawyers keep professional boundaries with their clients.

She stressed that the society had very little information about Mr. King's case back in 2003 and that "there's certainly significantly more information that's come to our attention more recently."

The society knew there were sexually explicit pictures of Judge Douglas, she said, but officials there hadn't seen them, nor did they know any details of their contents.

She said there is a vetting process for applicants to the Queen's Bench, to which Judge Douglas was appointed in 2005, but that process is confidential.

Protocol requires that an applicant to a federal court must provide a release to the law society to let it disclose any significant information to that vetting committee.

Would the law society have taken different measures today?

"Given the fact that we didn't have a complainant ... I can't say we would have made a different decision at this point," Ms. Dangerfield said. "Every case is going to depend on its circumstances."

In August of this year, Alex Chapman said his former lawyer Mr. King showed him sexually explicit photos of Mr. King's wife, Judge Douglas, and tried to convince him to sleep with her.

Mr. Chapman, a 44-year-old computer programmer, has since been fired from his job at Great-West Life Assurance Co. and has been required to turn his computer and computer files over to the court.

Judge Douglas has temporarily stepped down from the Queen's Bench and is working in the court in an administrative capacity.

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