Donald Alexander Boyd

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

Following a 2017 compliance audit, sole practitioner Donald A. Boyd admitted two breaches of the Law Society Rules: (1) in May 2010 he failed to immediately notify the Executive Director in writing of a Federal Court Income Tax Act certificate/judgment (originally $119,467.38, reassessed to about $60,000, satisfied in 2014) and a proposal for its satisfaction, contrary to former Rule 3-44 (now 3-50); and (2) between December 2015 and December 2016 he kept more than $300 of his own funds in his pooled trust account on four client files, contrary to Rule 3-60(5). No dishonesty was found. Under a Rule 4-29 proposal accepted by the Discipline Committee on September 26, 2019, the citation was resolved with the Respondent undertaking to complete 15 additional CPD credits by December 31, 2019, including the Practice Management course, with admissions recorded on his professional conduct record.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Segregate client money

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent was not familiar with the rule at the relevant time
• Respondent admitted the misconduct under Rule 4-29
• Respondent reviewed the rules and is now fully aware of his obligations
• Respondent changed his practice to comply with trust account rules
• No dishonesty; explanations offered for the reporting and trust account conduct