Roderick Coston McLeod

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Roderick Coston McLeod, a BC lawyer called in 1979, entered a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement approved September 11, 2024. He admitted professional misconduct including misappropriating $8,985.99 in residual client trust funds across 23 files, failing to deliver bills before trust withdrawals, failing to maintain proper accounting records, failing to promptly remit $28,360.59 in GST to the CRA, filing false or misleading trust reports for 2020-2022, and breaching trust conditions on property taxes and utilities. No express finding of dishonesty was made; mitigating factors noted conduct was unintentional. He agreed to a ten-week suspension.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• No improper use of client money
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Prompt accounting and return of money
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Professional conduct record dating back to 2009, including two conduct reviews, one involving similar trust accounting conduct

Mitigating factors:

• Conduct was not intentional but the result of overlooking responsibilities during stressful circumstances
• Significant pressure from stressful trial and appeal, travel between practice locations, COVID-19, and a flood in his Kamloops office
• Stress exacerbated a medical condition contributing to inattention to practice
• Took educational steps to ensure compliance with trust accounting rules
• Remorseful and acknowledges his misconduct