Vancouver lawyer suspended for 2 months after admitting financial misconduct
The Law Society of British Columbia has suspended Vancouver lawyer Paul Doroshenko for two months for professional misconduct involving client trust funds.
In a consent agreement published on the law society's website, Doroshenko admits to a variety of incidents involving the funds, all of which he attributes to his inattentiveness to the administrative side of his law practice.
Doroshenko admits that the incidents constitute misconduct and that he is personally responsible for ensuring that his firm's accounting records are properly kept, but he also attributes the accounting issues to staff members, and says that personal injuries he suffered prevented him from adequately supervising his employees.
The financial issues listed in the consent agreement took place between 2013 and 2019 and include:
- 82 instances of misappropriating or improperly withdrawing funds, worth a total of $44,353.19
- 82 instances in which he did at least one of the following: failed to identify a trust shortage, failed to pay it back or failed to report it to the law society
- 65 instances in which he failed to maintain sufficient funds in trust for his clients
- 20 instances of failing to deposit trust funds - worth a total of $25,095.93 - as soon as practicable
- Failing to maintain accounting records in compliance with law society rules
- Failing to adequately supervise his staff
- Making false representations to the law society in his annual trust report
No clients were harmed as a result of the misconduct, according to the consent agreement, and all of the misappropriated funds were corrected or replaced.
In addition to his two-month suspension, Doroshenko must complete five hours of continuing professional development credits by Dec. 31. These credits are in addition to the 12.5 hours normally required of all lawyers in B.C.
Doroshenko's suspension begins on June 21.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.