Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
A Calgary lawyer who falsified court documents and repeatedly lied to a client, causing the man to miss out on parenting time with his youngest child, pleaded guilty to forgery on Thursday.
Ronverg Mendoza was also disbarred last year following a law society disciplinary hearing.
His victim, Gord Weston, was in court for Mendoza’s plea. After court, Weston said Mendoza’s actions prolonged an already difficult family court process and caused him to miss out on time with his daughter.
He said it took two years to get the situation resolved after Mendoza’s fraud.
“As anyone who’s a parent knows, you have very short time with your children when they’re younger, and it’s precious, and you can’t get it back,” Weston said.
Family court trial never scheduled
Details of Mendoza’s crimes come from an agreed statement of facts read aloud by prosecutor Megan Rosborough.
Justice Ryan Anderson heard that starting in 2021, Mendoza, who became a lawyer in 2020, represented Weston in a family law matter where Weston sought parenting time with his youngest daughter.
The court ordered Mendoza to schedule a trial and draft an order for the upcoming hearing.
In October 2021, Mendoza received trial dates from the courthouse “but took no steps to schedule the trial,” according to the agreed statement of facts.
‘Fictitious’ hearing
Weston repeatedly asked Mendoza to confirm trial dates.
On June 22, 2022, Mendoza forwarded Weston an email that he’d forged.
The correspondence appeared to be from the courthouse scheduling email address and indicated that a virtual video hearing was scheduled for Aug. 10, 2022 at 9 a.m.
The lawyer and his client then spent time drafting an affidavit “to be used as evidence in the fictitious upcoming court hearing.”
Clerk stamp forged
After Weston swore the affidavit, Mendoza forged a clerk’s stamp which indicated it had been filed and then provided a copy to his client.
On Aug. 10, 2022, the date of the purported trial, Mendoza forged another email, this one indicating the hearing had been re-booked to Sept. 9 due to a lack of judicial resources.
This back-and-forth of falsified emails continued with Mendoza lying four more times about booking trials and the courts cancelling them.
The situation came to a head on Oct. 28, 2022, when Weston attended at the courthouse believing he had an in-person hearing to get access to his children.
‘I have no excuses’
Weston discovered his matter was not on the court’s docket and texted his lawyer angry and demanding an explanation.
“Hi Gord, I apologize but there’s no trial today and will face the consequences. I have no excuses,” he wrote.
Speaking outside of court after the plea, Weston said his former lawyer “caused a lot of devastation.”
“[He] delayed that process tremendously and it caused severe mental anguish.”
‘Intentional dishonesty and deceit’
Weston also reported Mendoza to the Law Society of Alberta, which held a hearing and released its findings in July 2025.
Mendoza was found guilty of failing to provide competent services, failing to be candid with clients and the court, failing to respond promptly to communications from the law society and forging emails and a court stamp.
The hearing committee determined the appropriate discipline to be disbarment, the most serious possible sanction.
“Mr. Mendoza’s conduct involved ongoing, intentional dishonesty and deceit of his clients and of the court throughout most of his short career as a lawyer,” reads the law society decision.
A sentencing hearing on Mendoza’s fraud conviction will take place later this year following the completion of a pre-sentence psychiatric report.
Mendoza declined to comment following his guilty plea.
