Sukpreet Shawn Singh Samra

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

BC lawyer Sukpreet Shawn Singh Samra entered a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement, approved November 23, 2022, admitting professional misconduct relating to a 2018 real estate conveyance. He misappropriated/improperly withdrew $4,538 in client trust funds, failed to maintain sufficient trust funds, failed to timely report a trust shortage, made cash withdrawals from trust, and kept personal funds in trust. He agreed to a six-week suspension starting December 1, 2022, a trust supervision practice condition, and remains under an undertaking not to practise real estate law. No express finding of dishonesty was made; the misappropriation arose from a mistaken assumption about entitlement to fees.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• Report serious misconduct of others
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Prior 2018 compliance audit warning regarding late withdrawal of fees, comingling of personal funds, and withdrawals without trust cheque
• Professional Conduct Record dating to 2018 including two conduct reviews, two administrative suspensions, and a practice standards undertaking not to practise real estate law

Mitigating factors:

• Returned funds and paid the Property transfer tax once error discovered; no harm to clients from inadvertent trust shortage
• Sincere acknowledgement of mistakes and steps taken to prevent recurrence
• Took educational courses (Practice Management, Trust Accounting Basics, Anti-Money Laundering) and implemented improved accounting procedures