Srinivassen Pillay arrives at Halifax provincial court on Monday. (CBC)A disgraced Halifax lawyer has been sentenced to four years in prison for stealing more than $1.3 million from nearly three dozen clients.

Srinivassen Pillay was sentenced Monday in Halifax after pleading guilty to 34 counts of theft. Another 68 charges of fraud and breach of trust were dismissed.

"The amount involved is obviously the highest we've ever heard of in this province, in the Atlantic region," said Crown attorney Richard Harten. "It rivals anything that's been heard of in Canada, frankly."

Pillay was once a Queen's Counsel and member of the trust fund committee of Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. He was disbarred in May 2005 after the society found him guilty of professional misconduct.

The court heard that Pillay used the money to feed a gambling problem and pay for a lifestyle he could not afford.

"It outrages me," said Hartlen. "It's not an excuse that you have a gambling problem, or a drug problem .… We all have those types of vices, we all have those types of things that factor in."

Each lawyer in the province had to pay $750 so that Pillay's clients could be repaid. Pillay has been ordered to repay the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society.

Peter Banks, one of Pillay's victims, said the legal profession needs more checks and balances and that he was angry the system let him down.

"Betrayed. In the past, I've had my home broken into … you've been violated," he said. "That's exactly what it felt like."

Halifax Regional Police first charged Pillay in December 2006 with three counts of fraud, but the Crown withdrew those charges. Police reopened the investigation in January 2007, and a longer list of charges followed.

Pillay was working as an English teacher in South Korea when he appeared in court in July 2008.

He was released from custody after his mother agreed to post a $50,000 surety. He was ordered to surrender his passport and stay in Canada and, because of a gambling addiction, stay away from the Halifax casino.