Justin Singh Thind

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

Justin Singh Thind, a BC lawyer practising primarily in criminal and motor vehicle law, entered a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement (approved December 6, 2024) admitting professional misconduct arising from trust accounting irregularities found in compliance and forensic audits. He deposited retainer funds into general and withdrew funds from trust without first preparing and delivering bills, created PCLaw invoices that were not true invoices and had potential to mislead clients and the Law Society, issued Practice Panther invoices with inaccurate/misleading trust transactions, caused an unreported $5,000 trust shortage, failed to comply with various trust record-keeping rules, and charged contingency fees without signed agreements. He had performed sufficient work to earn the fees and no clients lost funds. He agreed to a two-month suspension and completion of trust accounting courses. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• Accounting records, reconciliation and reports
• Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Truthful, non-misleading advertising

Aggravating factors:

• Professional conduct record including two conduct reviews, one involving failure to meet financial obligations of his firm

Mitigating factors:

• Early admissions of misconduct
• Remedial steps to bring firm's accounting practices into compliance (integrated Practice Panther billing, discontinued PCLaw, retained full-time bookkeeper, contemporaneous entries)