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A B.C. lawyer who charged a mentally ill client $1 million and then took his entire office on holiday to Las Vegas has been disbarred for the second time in his career.

Victoria-based lawyer Peter Darren Steven Hart was also ordered to pay $60,000 to the Law Society of B.C. to cover its costs in the investigations.

According to a June 29 Law Society of B.C. decision, Hart charged this mentally ill client $1.127 million in a decades-old divorce case which left his client financially destitute.

"(Hart) provided an abysmal quality of service, failed to act with honesty and candour and pressured his client into entering into an unfair and unethical contingency fee," the decision reads. "He chose to betray and mislead a vulnerable client who he knew to be suffering from a mental illness. (Hart) ignored (her) instructions, lied to his client, and acted solely for his own personal financial benefit. In addition to forcing his client to enter into an unethical and unfair contingency fee agreement, (he) took funds that he was not entitled to under that agreement."

Hart should have collected roughly $300,000 but instead misled his vulnerable client to charge more fees.

The Law Society said the client had had a breakdown, attempted suicide and was involuntarily hospitalized. He took her on while she was still under psychiatric care, had no income and nearly no assets and made her situation worse.

A court later described the settlement his client got as a "poor result."

The decision says Hart's actions have left his client destitute when she should have been financially secure.

In 2018, Hart was ordered to pay back the client but to date, he has only paid $18,000.

"Less money than he spent taking his entire office on a holiday in Las Vegas," the decision reads.

This is the second time Hart has been disbarred by the B.C. Law Society.

In June 2021 he lost his licence to practice law after he misappropriated $4,000 and acted in a conflict of interest over $531,000 he loaned to his law firm.

The decision says thought Hart represented himself at the hearing he presented no submissions and did not attend.

"Individuals who act without integrity and exploit their clients for their own financial gain have no place in the legal profession. Lawyers are supposed to be the ones protecting vulnerable people. The public should be able to rely on their lawyer to act in their best interests, treating them with respect, honesty and candour," the decision reads. "(Hart) has compromised the sanctity of the solicitor-client relationship and dishonoured the legal profession."

The Law Society gave him six months to pay the $60,840 costs.

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