A Vernon Lawyer is being summoned before a hearing panel over misappropriated and improperly withdrawn funds.
Leonard Hil Marriott, who owns North Valley Law, is alleged to have misappropriated $26,760.21 from a client, according to a Law Society of BC citation dated June 14.
Marriott was acting as the executor and trustee of the client’s estate at the time of the misappropriation, which took place between March 2019 and March 2021, according to the citation.
Marriott is also alleged to have “improperly” withdrawn from trust “some or all” of $71,149.12 in legal fees in March 2019, despite the fact that the beneficiary hadn’t consented to the withdrawal.
The Law Society accuses Marriott of professional misconduct, conduct unbecoming of his profession or a breach of the Legal Profession Act.
Marriott is also accused of professional misconduct concerning a will and estates matter from July 2018 to February 2019, where he “failed to provide the quality of service required of a competent lawyer,” according to the Law Society.
It’s not the first time the Law Society has called Marriott’s conduct into question. He’s currently awaiting a hearing after allegedly filing false or misleading information to the B.C. Supreme Court, according to a December 2022 citation. Marriott also allegedly failed to disclose the existence of a will for a deceased person in relation to an estate matter. As well, the Law Society says he “failed to provide (his) client with the quality of service expected of a competent lawyer” during a property transfer and estate matter.
The allegations have yet to be proven in court.
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