Vancouver, Sept. 6, 2022 – The Chair of the LSBC discipline committee has approved a consent agreement in which lawyer Alina Nikolaeva admitted professional misconduct and accepted a two-week suspension starting Sept. 26, 2022.
Nikolaeva admitted that between 2014 and 2019 she used, or allowed the use of, her firm’s trust account to receive and disburse funds without providing substantial legal services, without making reasonable inquiries about the source of the funds and the reason the funds were to go through the account. She also failed to sufficiently verify the identity of her client.
In determining the disciplinary action, the Chair of the discipline committee noted that Nikolaeva is remorseful, acknowledges her misconduct and has changed her office procedures to ensure that she is in full compliance with the Law Society Rules in the future. There is no indication that the matter involved fraud or other illegal conduct, and no clients were harmed. The Chair also considered that Nikolaeva has no prior professional conduct record.
The consent agreement is available here.
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