A Vernon lawyer has been suspended for five months by the Law Society of British Columbia for misappropriating funds, and a host of other instances of professional misconduct.
M. Shane Dugas admitted to the misconduct, and the society says his suspension started June 1.
According to a press release on the society’s website, Dugas admitted to a “wide range of misconduct, including by misappropriating or improperly handling funds by depositing money into his personal account instead of a trust account, failing to maintain proper accounting records, failing to correct and report trust shortages, filing incorrect trust reports, maintaining funds that were not related to legal services in his trust account, and failing to honour a trust condition.”
From 2014 to 2022, Dugas also failed to file and remit GST, PST and payroll source deductions in a timely manner.
According to a consent agreement, between March 2019 and May 2020, Dugas used his trust account to receive and disburse $230,000 that was not directly related to legal services for a client, when he was aware that the client was being pursued by unpaid creditors. He did something similar between May 2017 and July 2020, receiving and disbursing $1.35 million in funds that weren’t for legal services, when he was aware that the bank accounts of his client were inaccessible due to foreclosure proceedings.
The society noted Dugas’s misconduct was caused by “gross negligence.”
Dugas has been referred to the society’s Practice Standards Committee. When he returns to his practice, he will only be permitted to operate a trust account with an approved second signatory who is a practicing lawyer.
In accepting the consent agreement, the Law Society took into account Dugas’s prior professional conduct record, which includes a 2013 conduct review for taking funds from trust for legal fees prior to issuing bills.
Dugas became a member of the Law Society in 2008 and has since worked at two small firms in Vernon, including his own firm, Dugas Law, which he opened in 2011. He practices primarily in the areas of administrative law and civil litigation.
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