Michael Andrew Christ

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

Michael Andrew Christ admitted professional misconduct for improperly withdrawing a total of $3,781.40 in client trust funds across seven instances on six client files (plus one additional file) between February 2021 and June 2022, depositing them to the firm's general account without entitlement and without delivering bills. The withdrawals were carried out by the firm's bookkeeper without the Lawyer's instruction, and the Lawyer signed the documents in good faith. He accepted full responsibility and repaid all funds. Under a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement approved August 26, 2025, he agreed to a one-month suspension. No finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• No improper use of client money

Mitigating factors:

• Misconduct was unintentional and unknown to the Lawyer during the relevant period
• Lawyer signed invoices and cheques in good faith reliance on bookkeeper's information
• Bookkeeper took initiative to clear residual trust balances without instructions from the Lawyer
• Lawyer returned/repaid all affected trust funds to clients, third parties, or the Law Society
• Lawyer accepted full responsibility