Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Paule Moore
April 02, 2022 - 7:00 AM
A Kelowna lawyer has been found to have committed professional misconduct for misappropriating clients' funds on multiple occasions.
Kelowna lawyer Paule Fiona Seeger, who now goes by Paule Moore, admitted to professional misconduct for a series of events surrounding the finances of her practice between 2015 and 2018.
According to a recently published Mar. 4 Law Society of B.C. decision, Seeger set up her Kelowna practice in 2014 before closing it in 2019.
The decision says the practice was "financially precarious" and the firm's bank account was often empty leaving Seeger to rely on a line of credit.
In 2018 Seeger hired a bookkeeper and several months later the bookkeeper complained to the Law Society alleging financial improprieties at the firm.
In the decision, the bookkeeper says the lawyer was "always" transferring money from the firm's trust account to its general account to cover expenses.
The bookkeeper also said that while Seeger was on holiday in the Caribbean, she left a packet of blank cheques for her to use.
"The Law Society ordered a forensic accounting investigation of (Seeger's) practice. The investigation report provided evidence of a number of problems on the financial side of the... practice," the decision reads.
Seeger has been registered to practise law in B.C. since 2004 and at the time of the events was experiencing serious personal difficulties, including a marital breakdown and identity theft.
"The identity theft caused significant financial issues for (Seeger)," the decision says.
On 37 occasions between January 2017 and September 2018, Seeger misappropriated or improperly withdrew funds from her firm’s trust account.
On one occasion, Seeger took $460 from a trust account without her client’s authorization to do so.
"An unauthorized use of client trust funds is misappropriation, regardless of whether the amount involved is small or large," the decision says.
On another occasion, she billed a client $1,400 for work she hadn't done yet.
"This behaviour developed from the financial pressure bearing down on (Seeger)," the decision reads. "The 'pre-billed' services ranged in value from less than $200 to nearly $14,000."
The decision says most of the "pre-billed" services were ultimately performed but points out that "a lawyer is not entitled to bill a client for legal services until those services have been performed."
According to the decision, on four occasions, Seeger billed clients at her rate of $300 an hour but then had an articled student do the work but didn't charge the lower $200 an hour rate.
"She concedes that her invoices to the clients were false or misleading and that, in total, she overcharged the clients by $1,710," the decision says.
The Law Society also reprimanded Seeger for not telling them about a $117,097 court judgement against her from the Canadian Revenue Agency over an unpaid tax bill.
"The Respondent did not ever – let alone immediately – notify the executive director of the unsatisfied judgment or her proposal to satisfy it," the decision reads.
In 2018, Seeger refinanced her home to pay the tax bill.
What penalty Seeger receives is likely to be decided in the future.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2022