A Law Society Tribunal hearing panel has accepted the admissions of Surrey lawyer Suneil Kyle Sangha that he committed professional misconduct in relation to two separate matters and ordered that he be suspended for two and a half months, starting on January 1, 2022.
In one of the matters, Sangha admitted he failed to provide the quality of service required of a competent lawyer while acting for a client in the purchase of a residential development unit. In particular, he failed to acquire the necessary knowledge of the law and regulatory requirements relating to the marketing of residential development units, ensure that his client was provided with a copy of a disclosure statement and ensure the client’s deposit was paid to the developer as required. Sangha also admitted that he did not make his client aware of his rights regarding the holding of deposits, did not explain the risks associated with the purchase and did not perform a title search or corporate search. He admitted that he received $500 in trust funds without making a receipt in a receipt book, depositing the funds into a pooled trust account, recording the receipt of the cash, or issuing a receipt to his client.
In the other matter, Sangha admitted that he withdrew $149,500 from trust and paid the monies to a third party without obtaining written authorization or appropriately documenting verbal instructions he believed he had obtained from his client.
The panel accepted Sangha’s admission of professional misconduct and the disciplinary action jointly proposed by him and the Law Society. In imposing a suspension of two and a half months, the panel considered Sangha’s serious disregard for his basic obligations as a lawyer, his relatively recent call to the bar, and his extensive professional conduct record, which includes two practice supervision agreements, Practice Standards recommendations, a conduct review, a practice standards order not to practise real estate law that remains in place to date, and a finding of professional misconduct in another discipline matter.
The panel’s decision is available here.
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