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March 27, 2024 - 6:00 PM
A Kamloops lawyer who repeatedly practiced while suspended has been disbarred after years of investigations and citations from the regulator.
Nickolaus Harold MacDonald Weiser didn't attend the January hearing where the BC Law Society sought to have him disbarred. Nearly four months later, a tribunal ordered that he won't practice law in BC again.
The March 25 decision comes five years after the beginning of a protracted series of investigations and penalties from the law society, which began with his attempt to conceal payments from an unlicensed cannabis business, according to the decision.
From January to May 2019, he used his law firm's account to deposit $198,000 in proceeds from the business.
Where that business was or who was involved isn't clear, but the tribunal found Weiser created fake companies to give himself fake loans in order to pay himself when he liked, signing them to his romantic partner without her name or consent.
Past law society suspensions cited Weiser's practice of acting on both sides of loan agreements for companies in which he had a "financial stake." It appears they referred to the fake companies and fake loans to himself.
Since 2021, he's been suspended more than six times and has more than $11,000 in outstanding penalties owed to the law society. Several of those suspensions were due to a repeated failure to provide records to the regulator.
He also practiced law while suspended more than once and allegedly broke into his office to take equipment while suspended in the fall of 2023.
iNFOnews.ca was unsuccessful in reaching Weiser at the time for a comment on the accusation.
The law society told the tribunal Weiser is "ungovernable" because of his repeated failure to cooperate with investigations, to which the tribunal agreed. It said his repeated inability to respond to the investigation will "frustrate the very essence of (the law society's) ability to protect the public," according to the decision.
He was already considered a former member for failing to pay fees to the society in January, now disbarred as of the March decision.
"The respondent’s misconduct evidenced a deeply concerning lack of integrity, including elements of protracted dishonesty, a lack of regard for the regulator, deceit, and a failure to appreciate the consequences and gravity of his misconduct," the tribunal found.
"If integrity is lacking, the lawyer’s usefulness to the client and reputation within the profession is destroyed, regardless of how competent the lawyer may be."
Along with his disbarment, Weiser was given 30 days to pay nearly $16,700 to the society.
— This story was updated at 8:10 a.m., March 29, 2024, to correctly state that the BC Law Society Tribunal found Nickolaus Weiser ungovernable.
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