A Chilliwack mother is commending the Law Society of B.C. for disciplining a lawyer who sexually harassed her after she found herself requiring his legal services during a vulnerable time in her life.
Despite having already disbarred family lawyer Marc Andre Eckardt last December — following a sexual assault conviction — the society pursued a hearing this year at a tribunal after Amanda Rossi brought her concerns to the organization that regulates lawyers in the province.
The tribunal's three members ultimately ruled Eckardt committed professional misconduct in 2016 by sexually harassing Rossi, then a 26-year-old mother of three young children in a very vulnerable disposition.
“It was a huge moment for me, even though it was really hard to go through that whole process,” Rossi told Glacier Media in an interview.
“For them to come back with that verdict that they did, I cried, because for the first time in my life, I felt heard."
'I had lost everything,' mom recalls
Rossi recounted how her life began to spiral out of control in 2015, culminating in domestic abuse on the part of her now former common law partner.
“I was going through a lot at that time; I had lost my job and my house and my car, because my ‘ex’ had totalled it,” said Rossi, who eventually lost custody of her kids to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. “And so, I had lost everything."
By January 2016, Rossi needed legal representation to get her children back in her full custody and away from her partner, while also obtaining child support and protection orders against him.
She was offered legal aid by the court and ultimately the legal services of Eckardt, who at the time practised law in Abbotsford under the name Marc Andre Scheirer.
“I just remember the first time I went to his office, I was really scared because I was in a domestic violent relationship. But I had also grown up in and out of foster care, and I've been abused by my birth parents and in the foster homes I had been in,” said Rossi of her first encounter with Eckardt in July 2016.
“I was telling myself in the parking lot, like, ‘Oh, it's going to be OK; he's a lawyer, he's not going to hurt you, there's going to be other people there — you're safe,’” said Rossi.
Upon entering the empty office that appeared empty, Rossi said she felt a bit of panic set in.
“I’m standing there to see if anyone’s going to come out and then the next thing I knew, arms just came and wrapped around me... And so I'm standing there and my entire back is being pressed up against a man, and they are taller than me because it was like my shoulders came up to the chest on whoever was wrapping me and they were holding me so tight.”
Rossi said she froze on account of her past trauma.
When the two sat down at Eckardt’s desk, Rossi said the lawyer took his shoes off and rubbed his feet against Rossi’s leg. At one point, he asked if she intended to have more children.
Rossi said he also told her he would consider himself lucky to have her children.
'Didn't know what to do'
Rossi described being in a daze and in a vulnerable position.
“I need him because I have to get my kids back, and I don't know if I could even get another lawyer. …I didn’t know what to do."
“I don't even know what we did. I don't even know what we talked about, because my brain just disassociated from all of it that I just remember when I was going to leave, I think he tried to kiss me, like, on the top of the staircase,” said Rossi.
At subsequent meetings in the office, Rossi said she brought her children. She also told a friend who initially didn’t believe her until the friend witnessed Eckardt touch Rossi’s thigh in the courtroom during proceedings while smelling of alcohol.
“He was slurring his words. He was touching me inappropriately, even in the courthouse, like he would put his hand on my thigh and just like, leave it there, and like, rub me,” said Rossi, who tendered her story as evidence to the tribunal.
Eckardt did not cross examine Rossi on her evidence and apologized to Rossi at the hearing for making her feel uncomfortable, according to the tribunal’s written decision. This contrasts with Eckardt’s failure to acknowledge his misconduct when he was convicted of sexual assault (he appealed unsuccessfully).
Glacier Media was unable to contact Eckardt. His office is now closed.
In the end, Rossi noted, Eckardt did obtain the custodial, child support and protection orders she sought, but she said the ordeal left her with further scars.
Law society has lawyer misconduct process for public
With respect to the ordeal, life went on for Rossi — now working in government services — and her family for about seven years until she read a Glacier Media news story about Eckardt’s other misconduct.
On Dec. 6, 2023, Eckardt was disbarred as a result of a Nov. 20, 2020 criminal conviction for sexually assaulting another client of his on Feb. 28, 2018. Eckardt received a two-year suspended sentence and two years of probation.
Rossi also discovered Eckardt was previously suspended for six months on Nov, 22, 2022, after a tribunal determined he committed professional misconduct in November 2018 after inviting a female client over to his home only to start drinking alcohol, change into “inappropriate attire” and sit next to the woman while putting his arm around her.
Eckardt initially started his career in California but came to work in B.C. in 2015, making Rossi among his first clients at his now shuttered office.
At her hearing, Rossi credited a Glacier Media reporter for suggesting she share her concerns to the society.
Rossi said her ordeal raises some questions and concerns about how the legal profession can better communicate its services and complaints process to clients, especially those seeking legal aid, who tend to be lower on the socioeconomic ladder.
“Where would I go to report his behaviour? To his own law firm? To somebody in his office? I had no education. I had no idea about what I was supposed to do, whatsoever. And had I been informed before I even got him, like, ‘Hey, if there's anything happening, please tell this person,’ that way it could have been at least noted,” said Rossi.
'Serious and reprehensible'
The society, for its part, now has a website dedicated to the complaints process specifically for sexual misconduct, harassment or discrimination.
In Eckardt’s disbarment hearing, the tribunal noted how serious it takes this sort of misconduct: “For the public to have confidence in the legal profession, and confidence in the ability of the profession to govern itself, conduct such as this must attract disciplinary action that reflects how serious and reprehensible this conduct is.”
Rossi expressed hope for others who have been victims of abuse through professional power imbalances to seek justice.
“You have to remember that, especially lawyers, that they take an oath, right? They're supposed to uphold that they are actually held to a higher standard than the rest of society," she said.
“I think if I had known that they [the society] were going to be the way that they were — I didn't even know they existed or that's where you would go to report, but they were honestly amazing, even though it was so tough mentally because I had tried to disassociate from everything that was happening, that I had forgotten a lot of the details.
Because that's how I survive, I just disassociate and I keep going forward. So it was really hard to go back to one of the most difficult parts of my life and then have to tell them all of that personal stuff.”
