Teacher banned for inappropriate Tweets cleared to practise law in Saskatchewan
Jesse Baron applied to law school after working as a legal assistant while suspended from teaching
A former teacher who served a 17-month suspension for inappropriate Tweets has been cleared to practise law by the Law Society of Saskatchewan.
According to a hearing committee decision, Jesse Baron never returned to teaching after losing his job and his licence in 2015 for professional misconduct over a series of sex- and race-tinged Tweets, deciding to switch to law school instead.
The three-member hearing panel found that the 42-year-old is now suitable to practice law, admitting him as a student-at-law so that he can complete his articling period.
“Given the remorse shown, the insight gained through many years of education and training, and a proven record of good conduct since 2015, we find that Mr. Baron has grown as a professional and that the misconduct that led to his exit from teaching is unlikely to be repeated,” the panel concluded. “Further, we have no concerns with respect to his competency, and we find that his admission as a Student-at-Law is not inimical to the public interest, nor would it harm the standing of the legal profession generally.”
Nicholas Stooshinoff, who acted for Baron, declined an opportunity to comment, telling Court Report Canada in a statement that “we are content to let the decision speak for itself.”
Once the Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation opened its investigation, the law society tribunal ruling says that Baron swiftly accepted responsibility for the sexually suggestive and race-based posts on his Twitter account, which he operated under a pseudonym, while identifying himself as an educator.
Baron told the hearing that the 2014 posts were intentionally offensive, explaining that at the time, he was attempting to establish himself in the “shock” comedy community and treated the social media platform like a comedy club stage.
“He readily acknowledged that he gave insufficient regard to how making these kind of jokes could impact his role as a teacher, or how these posts could be hurtful to others. When asked to do so he immediately removed the posts. When asked about his perspective on such shock comedy today, the Applicant testified that he sees no place for that kind of comedic content in his life and that he wishes to contribute in a more positive way to his community,” the panel’s decision reads.
During the STF proceedings, Baron also admitted using a school computer to write a personal letter that contained an offensive description of a named student. At his law society hearing, he told the panel that this remained his biggest regret
“Reading it again, I feel I betrayed that student…The letter does not express how I felt about that student or how we interacted,” Baron testified.
When the teaching regulator reached its decision on Baron’s case in June 2015, it imposed an additional 12-month suspension, on top of the five months he had already served.
In the meantime, Baron had begun working as a legal assistant at a local law firm, and after his teaching licence was restored in June 2016, he decided he would rather switch careers and go to law school.
Baron made an impression at the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Law, emerging as class valedictorian, and the law society panel was convinced that found that he was “deeply and genuinely remorseful” about his past conduct, noting the insight he had shown into the damage it had caused both his family and his former students.
“Society encourages those who have made mistakes to learn from those mistakes, to rehabilitate themselves, and to reintegrate as a contributing member of the community. Mr. Baron has done these things. The decisions of this law society and others, have permitted others who have arguably committed worse transgressions to return to the practice of law. They were given a second chance and this Panel sees no reason to deny Mr. Baron his second chance,” the decision reads.
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