In what circumstances has a lawyer been suspended or disciplined for mismanagement of his trust accounts?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Law Society of British Columbia v Guo, 2021 LSBC 43 (CanLII):
In Law Society of Upper Canada v. Babij, 2004 ONLSHP 24, the lawyer hired a new employee to assume day-to-day financial management over the lawyer’s practice. The lawyer failed to oversee the financial side of his practice and signed trust cheques in blank form leaving it to his employee (later new wife) to complete them. The panel found there was substantial mishandling of, and misappropriation from, his trust accounts. The lawyer was suspended for 12 months.
In Law Society of BC v. Sarai, 2005 LSBC 17, the lawyer was found to have committed more than 150 separate instances of either neglect, misconduct, breach of rules or breach of undertaking in his real estate practice. While not a misappropriation case, the lawyer was suspended for one year.
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