Jacqueline Levesque

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

Jacqueline Levesque, a BC lawyer assisting Indian Residential School claimants, admitted multiple instances of professional misconduct: charging 10% contingency fees without written authority (JF and RA), taking disputed fees from trust while a fee review was pending, discourteous submissions to an adjudicator, borrowing from client ML without advising independent legal advice, and—most seriously—preparing and sending a false Irrevocable Assignment (falsely claiming a non-existent motor vehicle accident claim) and a false invoice to two third-party lenders (SLC and TMG) in order to mislead them into advancing loans to ML, which she then borrowed. She also breached an undertaking to lawyer SS. She admitted the deliberate deception of the lenders. She had already repaid the affected parties. By agreed disposition she undertook not to apply for reinstatement for five years from June 6, 2011, with additional conditions including a medical report on any reinstatement application. No fine or costs figures were stated.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Fair, reasonable and lawful fees
• No improper use of client money
• Honour professional undertakings

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent repaid RA the disallowed fee
• Respondent repaid the SLC loan with fees and interest
• Respondent repaid the TMG loan with fees and interest
• Respondent admitted the conduct via agreed statement of facts