Vancouver, June 5, 2018 – 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 March 12 to June 4, 2018, the Law Society obtained undertakings from six individuals and businesses who put the public at risk by performing unregulated and uninsured legal services or misrepresenting themselves as lawyers, by obtaining their written promises to stop engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. If these individuals break their promise, then the Law Society may obtain a court order against them.
During that time period, the Law Society also obtained orders prohibiting the following individuals from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law:
On February 23, 2018, Mr. Justice Branch ordered that disbarred lawyer Kevin Alexander McLean, of Vancouver, BC, be permanently prohibited from engaging in the practice of law, regardless of whether he charges a fee. The order also prohibits him from referring to himself as a lawyer, retired or otherwise, or in any other way that connotes that he is entitled or qualified to practise law. He is prohibited from commencing, prosecuting or defending proceedings in any court on behalf of others, and from initiating proceedings on his own behalf without leave of the court. The court found that McLean, while suspended and disbarred, had engaged in the practice of law on behalf of third parties and companies to which he was an officer and director. The court awarded the Law Society its costs. McLean has filed an application with the court to set aside this order.
On May 11, 2018, Madam Justice Dardi granted an injunction permanently prohibiting Ronald James McKinnon, of Vancouver, BC, from engaging in the practice of law, falsely representing himself as a lawyer, and commencing, prosecuting or defending proceedings in court on behalf of others. The Law Society alleged that McKinnon, who is not and has never been a lawyer in Canada, falsely referred to himself as a lawyer, retired or otherwise, to several witnesses and purported to provide legal services with respect to a criminal law matter for a fee. The court also awarded the Law Society its costs at $3,495.33.
To read the orders, search by name in the Law Society’s database of unauthorized practitioners.
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For further information contact:
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Vinnie Yuen
Communications Officer
604.697.5836
vyuen@lsbc.org
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