Summary of Rule 4-59 - Administrative Penalty
Bruce L. McKenzie
Location: Golden, BC
Called to the bar: September 11, 1984
Penalty deemed to be admitted: February 16, 2023
FACTS
On February 3, 2023, an administrative penalty was assessed against Bruce L. McKenzie for $5000. The administrative penalty resulted from breaches of Rules 3-102 and 3-104 of the Law Society Rules 2015, which require a lawyer to verify the identity of instructing clients for any file where the lawyer provides legal services in respect of a financial transaction, and which require a lawyer to use an agent to complete the verification process where the client is not present in Canada and is not physically present before the lawyer.
Specifically, for one client who was located in Canada, when using government identification to verify that client’s identity, McKenzie failed to do so in the physical presence of the client, contrary to Rule 3-102(2)(a)(i)(B). McKenzie also relied on electronic copies of identification documents to verify the client’s identity, contrary to Rule 3-102(3).
In two other client matters, where the clients were located outside Canada, although McKenzie did retain an agent to verify client identity, in the first case McKenzie failed to obtain a copy of the documents used by the agent to verify client identity, as required by Rule 3-104(6)(a), and, in the second case, McKenzie failed to ensure that the agent verified the client’s identity in accordance with the Rule 3-102, as required by Rule 3-104(6)(b).
McKenzie paid the penalty on February 16, 2023, and has therefore been deemed to admit the above breach per Rule 4-59(5)(a).