{"id":12277,"date":"2025-09-02T12:22:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T12:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/?p=12277"},"modified":"2025-09-02T19:28:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:28:17","slug":"maurice-law-indigenous-law-firm-poison-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/?p=12277","title":{"rendered":"Maurice Law – ‘Indigenous law firm’ – Ron Maurice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nOn August 18, 2025 ‘indigenous’ law firm Maurice Law<\/a> filed a statement of claim against Rob Louie, the founder of the Band Members Alliance and Advocacy Association of Canada (BMAAAC<\/a>), alleging Louie defamed the firm\u2019s founder, Ron Maurice. The claim is seeking $5m in damages. Founded in 2002, Maurice Law claims on its website to be the first \u2013 and only \u2013 Indigenous-owned national law firm in Canada. Maurice\u2019s bio states he is of Cree-M\u00e9tis heritage. That is disputed.
\n\"\"
\nMaurice Law has represented a number of First Nations in their land claim and agricultural benefits claim settlements and has been accused of stealing millions. Maurice Law most recently made headlines when Keeseekoose First Nation in southeastern Saskatchewan decided to terminate the firm\u2019s services due to the cost of legal fees. In a letter addressed to Keeseekoose band members, the chief and council stated that in two of its previous claims \u2013 Racing Lake and Agricultural Benefits (Cows and Plows) \u2013 the cost to Keeseekoose was $8.9m and $6m, respectively.
\n\"\"
\nBeardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation won a decision against Calgary-based Maurice Law in July 2025. Legal fee agreements between them and its former law firm were unfair and, in some cases, unenforceable, a Saskatchewan judge ruled. Beardy\u2019s had won a $4.5m judgment for withheld annuities, and in 2024, the nation reached a $4.1m settlement with Canada for unpaid salaries to chiefs and council. Maurice Law demanded more than $1.1m in fees plus a share of future contingency payments, even though it had already been paid. The agreements included what the court called \u201cpoison pill\u201d clauses: if the clients switched lawyers before a settlement, they could owe up to half the expected contingency fee, plus other charges. The judge ordered Maurice Law to reimburse Beardy\u2019s more than $826,000, as well as $100,000 in enhanced costs. Records showed one lawyer claimed 25 hours in a single day, and the nation was charged 338 hours just to draft a declaration of claim.
\n\"\"
\n\"\"
\n The judge found many of the same problems with contracts Maurice Law had with One Arrow First Nation, including confusing terms and harsh penalty clauses, and ruled those agreements were also unfair or unenforceable. Maurice Law said it intends to appeal the judicial decision. \u201cPoison pill\u201d clauses are not common in most law firms.
\n\"\"
\nrmaurice@mauricelaw.com, bregehr@mauricelaw.com
\nMikisew Cree First Nation launched litigation against Maurice Law in March 2024 regarding their 2018 Cows & Ploughs (Agricultural Benefits) Settlement. Among other claims, MCFN asserted that Maurice Law was unjustly enriched. There were two aspects to the claim: 1. Maurice Law agreed to repay MCFN $2,692,264.17 of Treaty monies that were sent to him as \u201clegal fees\u201d (equivalent to 2% of the settlement, while Maurice Law took 6% in legal fees); and 2. MCFN claims that the Nation was denied the right to challenge the total legal fee of $8,158,376 paid to Maurice Law. (tanya.adams@mikisewcree.ca)
\n\"\"
\nExperts say predatory practices by Maurice Law result in windfall profits and unfair outcomes that disproportionately harm First Nations clients. Legal experts say the issue is more common and causes more harm among First Nations than with the general population and the worst offender is Maurice Law. In its statement, Maurice Law blamed its competitors for “encouraging clients to challenge our fees.” Indigenous organizations are pushing for reforms to how law societies regulate legal fees charged to First Nations by preditory law firms. MLT Aikins LLP, the firm representing Bready\u2019s in the matter involving Maurice Law, said Maurice Law has initiated a defamation lawsuit in Alberta against the firm and three MLT Aikins lawyers personally.
\n\"\"
\nIn 2025, Sweetgrass First Nation went to court after Maurice Law demanded immediate payment of over $5.4m in legal fees from a settlement trust. Sweetgrass had already ended its contract with the firm and wanted the fees reviewed first. The judge ruled that Sweetgrass\u2019s right to have the fees assessed comes first, and Maurice Law cannot demand instant payment before a review.
\n\"\"
\n\"\"
\nIn 2016, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal found that Maurice Law had already been hired on an hourly basis to represent Sakimay First Nation in land and flooding claims, but after a multi-million dollar settlement was nearly finalized, the firm pushed Sakimay to sign a new deal that would give Maurice Law a 3% bonus.
\n\"\"
\nnreddekopp@mauricelaw.com,
\nkhumber@mauricelaw.com,
\nmwebber@mauricelaw.com,
\nataylor@mauricelaw.com,
\ndchristoffersen@mauricelaw.com
\nrlake@mauricelaw.com,
\ncfafard@mauricelaw.com,
\nprobinson@mauricelaw.com,
\ntchalifoux@mauricelaw.com
\n\"\"
\nsmanychief@mauricelaw.com
\n\"\"
\nscarey@mauricelaw.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 18, 2025 ‘indigenous’ law firm Maurice Law filed a statement of claim against Rob Louie, the founder of the Band Members Alliance and Advocacy Association of Canada (BMAAAC), alleging Louie defamed the firm\u2019s founder, Ron Maurice. The claim is seeking $5m in damages. Founded in 2002, Maurice Law claims on its website to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[494,486,483,487,493,495,488,489,491,481,492,484,485,482,496,490],"class_list":["post-12277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anjalika-rogers","tag-aron-taylor","tag-brad-regehr","tag-crystal-fafard","tag-lorne-ternes","tag-maurice-law","tag-melanie-webber","tag-neil-reddekopp","tag-perry-robinson","tag-ron-maurice","tag-rosemary-irwin","tag-ryan-lake","tag-sheryl-manychief","tag-steve-carey","tag-thieves","tag-troy-chalifoux"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ron-Maurice.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12277"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12316,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12277\/revisions\/12316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}