Richard Yan-Yun Liu

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

Richard Liu, a BC real estate sole practitioner called in 1992, entered a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement admitting professional misconduct involving nine 'TL Files' and three 'Other Files' between 2016 and 2020. He failed to make reasonable gatekeeper inquiries, allowed his trust account to be used (over $10 million) without sufficient legal services, acted in conflicts of interest by loaning funds to clients through his trust account, used his own numbered company as a nominee lender to conceal lenders' identities from borrowers, and failed to meet client identification/verification requirements. The Chair found no evidence of crime or fraud. With no prior record, early admissions, full cooperation, and remorse, the Lawyer agreed to a three-month suspension commencing February 1, 2023.

Duties found breached:

• Handle inadvertently received material
• No conflict between current clients
• Proper termination and return of instructions

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was very serious
• Misconduct occurred over an extended period (March 2016 to June 2020) across multiple files
• Large sums passed through trust account (over $10 million) without sufficient legal services

Mitigating factors:

• No evidence the Lawyer committed or facilitated any crime or fraud
• No prior professional conduct record
• Early willingness to admit misconduct
• Full cooperation with the Law Society, saving time and resources
• Remorseful and apologized
• Committed to changing practice to comply with professional obligations; ceased loaning to clients and taking instructions from TL