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Summary of Rule 3-7.1 Consent Agreement
Katrina Sriranpong
Richmond, BC
Called to the bar: August 16, 2012
Consent agreement accepted: January 5, 2022
FACTS
Katrina Sriranpong provided a self-report to the Law Society in regard to her accounting practices. She explained that since taking on private immigration law clients, she had not operated a trust account or a general account and had used her personal bank accounts to conduct all banking related to her legal practice. While she maintained accounting records, her books and records were not in full compliance with the Law Society’ s accounting rules. She did not maintain books of records, and because she did not operate a trust account she did not maintain trust reconciliations.
Sriranpong used her personal bank accounts to receive funds from clients for services not yet rendered. She explained that she did not think she needed to operate a trust account because she billed her clients fixed legal fees for a circumscribed scope of services, and she believed her clients had provided her with informed consent to treat their fee payments as her own property upon receipt. She did not memorialize her consultations and discussions in her notes on file and did not obtain a written agreement from clients to treat the funds as her property.
In all cases, Sriranpong completed the work that she was retained to do, and no clients were missing funds.
CONSENT AGREEMENT
Sriranpong admitted to professional misconduct by improperly handling some or all of $72,703.04 of legal fees, relating to 17 clients and 22 files. In accepting the consent agreement, the chair of the Discipline Committee considered an agreed statement of facts and that Sriranpong had no prior professional conduct record.