Vancouver Island law firm Stevenson Luchies & Legh fined $45,000

Vancouver Island law firm Stevenson Luchies & Legh has agreed to a $45,000 fine for professional misconduct involving misappropriation of trust funds by a legal assistant, failure to properly supervise the legal assistant, and failure to meet trust accounting rules in relation to the misappropriated funds. 

In a consent agreement dated October 16, 2026, Stevenson Luchies & Legh admitted that over an eight-year period commencing in 2016, approximately 95 trust cheques totaling $465,513.40 were issued to a numbered company, which the legal assistant was a director of, for purposes unrelated to legal services provided by the firm. The firm discovered the misappropriation by its staff member in 2024. As a result of the misappropriation, the firm admitted it failed to maintain sufficient funds in its trust accounts resulting in trust shortages. The firm also admitted that it failed to properly supervise the legal assistant who had access to the firm’s trust accounting system, ledgers and records and failed to maintain proper trust account records.

In accepting the consent agreement, the Chair of the Discipline Committee considered an Agreed Statement of Facts containing the firm’s admissions, the firm’s prompt remedial action and retention of external accountants to review and reconstruct its accounting records, and the partners’ personal coverage of the misappropriated funds to ensure no clients suffered financial loss. 

For more information, read the consent agreement summary.