Sanda Ling King

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

Sanda Ling King, a BC lawyer called in 1998 who practised in real estate/conveyancing with the Siebenga & King Law Corporation, admitted professional misconduct under Rule 4-29 for misappropriating client trust funds totalling roughly $63,829 across hundreds of transactions between 2009 and 2013 (reversing stale-dated cheques and Residual Balances into the firm's general account), for participating in creating backdated false invoices to justify and conceal those withdrawals and to mislead Law Society auditors during 2009 and 2012 compliance audits, and for incorrectly certifying in 2009 and 2012 trust reports that there were no outstanding stale-dated cheques. The admissions were largely framed as 'knew or ought to have known'; the tribunal made no express finding of dishonesty. The Discipline Committee accepted her proposal, recording the misconduct on her record and accepting a 10-year undertaking not to practise law, not to seek reinstatement, and related restrictions, with s.15(3) of the Legal Profession Act applying.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct occurred over an extended period (approximately 2009 to 2013)
• Large number of instances (hundreds of transactions)
• Creation of backdated false invoices to mislead Law Society auditors during the 2009 and 2012 compliance audits
• Incorrect certifications in trust reports

Mitigating factors:

• Admission of misconduct and cooperation via Rule 4-29 proposal
• Expression of remorse and acceptance of responsibility
• Reliance on and direction from senior partner Mr. Siebenga
• Retired from practice and closed down the firm; intention to resign membership
• Personal circumstances including being primary breadwinner and family responsibilities

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_suspension_months=120"]