Surrey lawyer Roderick Coston McLeod has received a 10-week suspension for professional misconduct. The suspension will commence on October 1, 2024.
McLeod admitted that he misappropriated $8,985 in client funds and failed to prepare and/or immediately deliver a bill to his clients in relation to 23 client files. He also admitted that he failed to maintain proper accounting records, failed to remit GST funds and interest to the Canada Revenue Agency, filed trust reports for 2020, 2021 and 2022 that included information that he should have known was misleading, and failed to honour trust conditions while representing his client in the sale of a property.
In accepting the consent agreement, the Law Society took into consideration an Agreed Statement of Facts, a letter from McLeod to the Chair of the Discipline Committee and his professional conduct record, which includes two conduct reviews, one of which involved similar conduct and a discussion of McLeod’s trust accounting practices. The Law Society also noted that McLeod’s conduct was not intentional, but the result of overlooking his responsibilities during a confluence of stressful personal and professional circumstances.
For more information, read the
consent agreement summary.