A hearing panel of the Law Society of British Columbia has ordered that Abbotsford lawyer Amarjit Singh Dhindsa be suspended for professional misconduct. The panel ordered that the seven-week suspension commence November 1.
The hearing panel found that Dhindsa committed professional misconduct by acting in a conflict of interest, breaching undertakings and failing to honour a trust condition relating to his representation of a developer with respect to its purchase and sale of a development property.
The panel took into consideration Dhindsa’s professional conduct record, which includes two conduct reviews, practice standards recommendations, and a previous citation resulting in an admission of professional misconduct. The panel concluded that the conduct record is substantial and considered the prior breaches of undertakings in real estate transactions to be aggravating factors.
In deciding on appropriate disciplinary action, the panel considered that if the sanction did not reflect the seriousness of the conduct, public confidence in the integrity of the legal profession would be eroded, and that the principle of progressive discipline supports a suspension instead of a fine.
The panel’s written decision is available on the Law Society website.
-30-
For further information contact:
David Jordan
Communications Officer
604.443.5708
djordan@lsbc.org