Can a lawyer who withdrew funds from a trust to pay his client and his fees prior to the conclusion of an agreement or the obtaining of a court order in breach of an undertaking?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Mckinley (Re), 2019 LSBC 20 (CanLII):
In Law Society of BC v. Barron, [1997] LSDD No. 141, the lawyer held trust funds from the sale of a matrimonial home that were subject to an undertaking to opposing counsel and subject of a court order restraining the parties from disposing of the family assets. The lawyer withdrew the funds to pay his client and his fees on two separate occasions. The panel held that the respondent knowingly released funds to his client and paid his fee from the trust monies prior to the conclusion of an agreement or the obtaining of a court order in breach of an undertaking and the court order. The lawyer’s conduct was found to constitute professional misconduct.
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