West Vancouver lawyer Mark Sager prohibited from practising law for two years

West Vancouver lawyer Mark Sager, who is currently mayor of that district, cannot practice law for a period of two years after admitting to having committed three instances of professional misconduct in a proposal made under Rule 4-29 of the Law Society Rules.

The misconduct relates to the preparation of a former client’s will and his subsequent conduct as executor and trustee of that client’s estate between 2010 and 2020.

Sager admitted to acting in a conflict of interest by causing the preparation of the will, in which he was named executor and trustee and received absolute discretion to use estate funds to travel to England when his client had not received independent legal advice. He also admitted to withdrawing $44,800.00, including taxes, in executor’s fees and $26,790.81, including taxes, in care and management fees from the estate funds prior to receiving approval from all of the beneficiaries or the court to do so. Sager further admitted to having failed to maintain the required records in respect of the disbursement of estate funds and did not make or maintain contact with the residual beneficiaries for approximately nine years.

In addition to the two-year practice restriction, which comes into effect on April 1, 2024, Sager agreed to several conditions, including not to work in any capacity for any lawyer or law firm in British Columbia, not to act in any fiduciary roles arising from a solicitor client relationship, and not to handle any fiduciary property as defined in the Law Society Rules.

The full agreement can be found on the Law Society website.