Citation issued: June 1, 2022
Nickolaus Harold MacDonald Weiser
Citations are authorized by the Law Society of BC's Discipline Committee and list allegations against a lawyer that will be considered at a discipline hearing. Please note that allegations in a citation are unproven until a discipline hearing panel has determined their validity.
Nature of conduct to be inquired into:
- Between approximately January 2019 and May 2019, in relation to your file #62419, you used your law firm’s trust account for your personal financial benefit and in the absence of substantial or any legal services when you did one or more of the following, contrary to one or more of Rules 3-60(4) and 3-60(5) of the Law Society Rules and rules 2.2-1 and 3.2-7 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia:
a) used the trust account to receive and disburse some or all of approximately $198,000 of your own funds in one or more of the instances set out in Schedule “A”;
b) used the trust account to receive funds paid to you personally from the proceeds of a cannabis business, when you knew or ought to have known that the business was not licensed by the federal or provincial government and that using your trust account would conceal or disguise the source of those funds;
c) maintained more than $300 of your own funds in the trust account;
d) drafted one or more of the following documents regarding purported loans from B Corp. to LP, when you knew or ought to have known that there were no such bona fide loans and the documents were false or misleading:
i. Letter of Intent dated January 21, 2019;
ii. Promissory Note dated January 22, 2019;
iii. Direction to Pay dated January 21, 2019;
iv. Direction to Pay dated February 14, 2019;
v. Direction to Pay dated March 6, 2019;
vi. Direction to Pay dated April 3, 2019; and
vii. Direction to Pay dated May 22, 2019.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.
2. Between approximately October 2020 and February 2022, in the course of an investigation into your conduct by the Law Society of British Columbia, you made one or more of the following representations in relation to your file #62419, which you knew or ought to have known were false or misleading, contrary to one or both of rules 2.2-1 and 7.1-1 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia:
a) that you had obtained instructions from B Corp. to prepare documentation for a loan from B Corp. to LP;
b) that you did not request to use LP’s personal bank account (the “LP Personal Account”) to deposit funds from a purported loan from B Corp. to LP of approximately $198,000 (the “B Corp Funds”);
c) that, between approximately January to July of 2019, you did not use, directly or indirectly, the LP Personal Account;
d) that you did not know what LP did with the B Corp Funds;
e) that you were not aware of cheques or bank drafts issued from the LP Personal Account to pay your personal expenses, including expenses related to your law practice;
f) that you had discussed or reached an agreement with LP for her to provide “administration services” to your law practice; and
g) that, between July 2018 to July 2019, general accounting services and other administrative services for your law practice were provided by LP.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.
3. Between approximately July 2018 and June 2019, you failed to maintain the minimum required general account records, contrary to Rule 3-69 of the Law Society Rules.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct or a breach of the Act or rules, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.
4. Between approximately February 2019 and September 2019, you acted in a conflict of interest when you entered into agreements to borrow funds from one or both of your clients, V Ltd. and S Ltd., contrary to one or more of rules 3.4-1, 3.4-26.1, 3.4-28, 3.4-29, and 3.4-31 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia.
This conduct constitutes conduct unbecoming the profession or professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.
5. Between approximately October 2015 and November 2016, you acted in a conflict of interest when you represented your client CM in an estate matter and you did one or both of the following, contrary to one or more of rules 2.1-3(b), 3.4-1, and 3.4-2 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia:
a) represented your client S Ltd. in relation to a loan of approximately $80,000 from S Ltd. to CM, which loan was secured by a mortgage registered against property owned by CM; and
b) represented B Corp. in relation to a loan of approximately $60,000 from B Corp. to CM, which loan was secured by a mortgage registered against property owned by CM.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.
6. Between approximately August 2018 and January 2020, you acted in a conflict of interest when you represented your client BM as the borrower and your client B Corp. as the lender with respect to the same loan, contrary to one or more of 2.1-3(b), 3.4-1, 3.4-2, and 3.4-5 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.