Leonard Hil Marriott
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
Respondent admitted professional misconduct found in two hearing panel decisions (2024 LSBC 47 and 2025 LSBC 05) concerning his handling of wills and estates matters for elderly, vulnerable clients. Misconduct included incompetent service, knowingly filing false or misleading materials with the court, improper pre-taking of $71,149.12 in executor fees, and improper withdrawal of $7,560 in legal fees. Under a Rule 4-29 proposal accepted April 3, 2025, he agreed to resign by July 1, 2025 and gave a 10-year undertaking not to practise law or seek admission anywhere in Canada, with fiduciary restrictions. The panel expressly noted his lack of candour and honesty in knowingly filing false court materials.
Duties found breached:
- Competence
- Diligence and timeliness
- Disclose adverse law to the court
- No improper use of client money
- Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
Aggravating factors:
- Prior professional conduct record including two sets of conditions/limitations, one prohibition from acting as principal, and two administrative suspensions
- Clients were elderly, unsophisticated and vulnerable
- Lack of candour and honesty; knowingly filing false or misleading court materials
Mitigating factors:
- Admission of professional misconduct via Rule 4-29 proposal
- Undertaking to resign and not practise, with broad geographic and fiduciary restrictions providing public protection
- Ordered to return executor fees to trust account