News Release
October 28, 2021

UPDATES SINCE ORIGINAL NEWS RELEASE:

  • Decmeber 1, 2021: The Law Society has applied for a review of the hearing panel’s decision to suspend Guo for one year. The suspension has been stayed pending the outcome of the review. See the announcement here.

A hearing panel of the Law Society Tribunal found that Richmond lawyer Hong Guo committed professional misconduct by failing to supervise her employees, failing to comply with trust accounting rules, and leaving a series of blank signed trust cheques with her bookkeeper, which facilitated the bookkeeper’s theft of $7.5 million of client trust funds. The panel also found Guo misappropriated trust funds from some clients, in order to replace funds missing from other clients’ trust accounts that were needed to complete pending real estate transactions.

The Law Society sought a disciplinary penalty of disbarment, but the Tribunal hearing panel ordered that Guo be suspended for one year. In imposing the suspension, the Tribunal hearing panel considered the misconduct to have been motivated by an intention to ensure pending transactions completed in time, and that all clients were eventually indemnified by Guo and an employee defalcation insurance policy. The panel also noted that Guo currently has no access to a trust account and is practising under the supervision of a lawyer. The suspension will commence on December 1, 2021.

The hearing panel’s decision on facts and determination is available here and the decision on disciplinary action is available here.

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For media inquiries, contact:

Vinnie Yuen
Communications Officer
604.697.5836
vyuen@lsbc.org