The Law Society of British Columbia acts to protect the public against individuals who hold themselves out to be lawyers when they are not.
From January 30, 2019, to August 1, 2019, the Law Society obtained written commitments from six individuals and businesses to stop engaging in unauthorized practice of law. If they break their promise, the Law Society may obtain a court order against them. These individuals and businesses put the public at risk by performing unregulated and uninsured legal services or misrepresenting themselves as lawyers.
During that time period, the Law Society also obtained one order prohibiting an individual from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
Mahmood Somani, a.k.a. Moe Somani, consented to an order prohibiting him from engaging in the practice of law for a fee, from commencing, prosecuting or defending a proceeding on behalf of another and from representing himself as a lawyer or using any other title that connotes that he is qualified or entitled to practise law. The Law Society alleged that Somani engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by providing legal advice and offering to prepare court documents for a fee. Somani neither directly confirmed nor denied these allegations but nonetheless signed a consent order dated June 28, 2019.
To read the order, search by name in the Law Society’s database of unauthorized practitioners.
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For further information contact:
David Jordan
Communications Officer
604.443.5708
djordan@lsbc.org