David Jacob Siebenga

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

David Jacob Siebenga, a BC lawyer called in 1987 and partner in Siebenga & King, admitted professional misconduct under Rule 4-29 for misappropriating client trust funds (totalling approximately $63,829 across 415 occasions) by reversing stale-dated cheques and withdrawing residual balances for fees not properly charged, for creating hundreds of backdated false statements of account to mislead Law Society auditors during the 2009 and 2012 compliance audits, and for falsely certifying two trust reports stating there were no outstanding stale-dated cheques. The Discipline Committee accepted his 15-year undertaking not to practise law in BC and not to seek reinstatement, resolving the citation. No express finding of dishonesty was stated, and no fine or costs were recorded in the decision.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• No improper use of client money
• Not mislead third parties or opponents

Aggravating factors:

• Misappropriations occurred over an extended period (Feb 2009 to Feb 2013)
• Creation of hundreds of backdated false invoices to conceal misconduct and mislead Law Society auditors during the 2009 and 2012 compliance audits
• Misconduct continued and was repeated even after the 2009 audit

Mitigating factors:

• Admission of misconduct and cooperation through Rule 4-29 proposal
• Acceptance of responsibility and of the audit findings/agreed facts
• Retired from practice and closed the firm; intention to resign membership