William Lorne Macdonald
Allegation / charges
Rule 4-29 Admission of Misconduct and Undertaking to the Discipline Committee
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
William Lorne Macdonald, called to the BC bar in 1999 and sole trust signatory at his North Vancouver firm, admitted professional misconduct under Rule 4-29 following a 2019 compliance audit. He admitted making false/inaccurate representations to a securities regulator, allowing funds to flow through his trust account in suspicious circumstances thereby assisting clients (KT, I Inc., JM) in a fraudulent securities market manipulation scheme, failing to provide substantial legal services or make reasonable inquiries on numerous trust transactions, and failing to properly verify client identification. He undertook not to practise law for 15 years from November 15, 2023, with a mandatory credentials hearing required for any future reinstatement. No express finding of dishonesty against the Respondent was made (he 'ought to have known'); no fine or costs were stated.<br>
Duties found breached:
- Fair dealing with unrepresented parties
- No improper use of client money
- Not misrepresent regulated status
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]