A former lawyer has been barred from practicing law for 15 years in Canada, after admitting multiple instances of professional misconduct to the Law Society of British Columbia.
Amanda Jane Rose’s dubious history as a lawyer was spelled out by the society in a discipline committee ruling on Sept. 23 and summarized by a news release on Oct. 1.
Rose admitted to the committee to misappropriating client trust funds on numerous occasions, with amounts ranging from $8,470.45 to $67,718.25. She deposited the funds into a general account instead of a trust account, transferred trust funds to her personal account, withdrew funds without her client’s consent or knowledge, double billed clients and used trust funds to cover operating expenses. Furthermore, she failed to immediately eliminate 64 trust shortages and did not report them to the society.
Rose became a member of the society in May 2011 and started off at three small law firms in New Westminster, according to the society. In 2017, she failed to complete professional development credits and was issued her first of three administrative suspensions. She was also suspended in 2018 and 2019 for failing to file trust reports. Her last suspension continued until she became a former member of the society on Jan. 1, 2020.