A Vernon lawyer who mistook his clients’ bank card for his own has been slapped with a one-month suspension after he withdrew thousands of dollars from their account.
David Leslie Schaefer admitted to professional misconduct after withdrawing $9,903 from the clients’ accounts in 33 separate transactions between January 2019 and April 2020, according to a recent decision from the Law Society of B.C.
All told, the Law Society says Schaefer improperly handled “some or all” of $11,400.93 of his clients’ money and failed to keep proper records.
The clients were an elderly couple, with the Law Society noting that one of them had “significant cognitive deterioration that was slowly worsening.” Schaefer was granted power of attorney to be able to pay himself for his legal services.
With power of attorney, Schaefer had in his possession a debit card for his clients’ bank accounts. While he withdrew close to $10,000 from their accounts, he only retained receipts for approximately $1,000 of those withdrawals.
Schaefer was found to have mistakenly used his clients’ bank card instead of his personal credit card on nine occasions, including paying his yearly car insurance to the tune of $1,559.99 in December 2019.
The decision noted that at the time of the errors, Schaefer had a credit card issued by the same bank as the debit card for the clients’ account. The cards were the same colour, and the PIN codes for the cards were also the same.
The decision notes that Schaefer sometimes carried both his bank card and his clients’ card in his wallet.
According to the decision, Schaefer “identified his errors and immediately credited the clients’ accounts for the inadvertently used funds” before the issue was reported to the Law Society in May 2020 by one of Schaefer’s former partners.
But while the citation notes the clients did not ultimately suffer financially as the funds were returned, it says the severity of the mistake was compounded by the vulnerability of Schaefer’s clients.
“While the respondent’s conduct lacked bad faith or dishonest intent and there is no evidence of an ultimate financial detriment to his clients, those factors are not determinative. The respondent’s conduct was, at best, cavalier and sloppy,” the Law Society’s disciplinary panel said.
“Practising law is a significant privilege afforded to a small percentage of society. With that privilege comes considerable responsibilities. There is no room for a cavalier attitude or sloppy practice. This is especially true when the lawyer’s clients are peculiarly vulnerable. The type of conduct exhibited by the respondent undermines the public’s trust in lawyers.”
The Law Society and Schaefer jointly proposed a one-month suspension. The suspension will begin March 1. Schaefer was also ordered to pay $1,000 in costs to the Law Society.
Schaefer acknowledged the mistake and voluntarily completed legal accounting courses and a course on acting for clients with dementia.
Schaefer has been registered to practice law in B.C. since 1985, according to the Law Society. From 2015 to May 2020, he was a senior partner with a Vernon law firm and has been a solo practitioner in Vernon since leaving the firm.
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