Regina lawyer Pauline Duncan Bonneau disciplined after misappropriating funds
Divorce lawyer won't practise law for at least 4 years
The Law Society of Saskatchewan has accepted the resignation of a well-known Regina lawyer, effectively prohibiting her from practising law for at least four years, after she admitted to misappropriating more than $34,000 from a deceased client.
A conduct investigation committee with the law society imposed the ruling on Pauline Duncan Bonneau. The committee's ruling was issued in a report from Aug. 27. The legal term for the ruling is a request for resignation in the face of discipline equivalent to disbarment.
In the issued report and ruling, which includes a statement of admissions from Bonneau, the committee noted that the lawyer took advantage of one of her elderly clients, one who was "in a highly vulnerable state."
"[Bonneau] admits that she placed her own interests over those of her own client. The more egregious behaviour is the misappropriation of funds from an estate account, first for $19,000 for which [Bonneau] has no explanation and the sum of $14,879," the report reads.
The lawyer improperly billed the $14,879 "as a disbursement when, in fact, the said monies had already been paid by the Royal Bank of Canada from the deceased's account," according to the report.
Bonneau had originally requested a one-year resignation, equivalent to disbarment, from the law society; the committee had proposed a five year resignation. In her defence, she said she self-reported the misappropriation of money and filed a statement of admissions.
The committee had already been aware of Bonneau's misappropriation acts prior to her admitting them in the statement of admission.
In light of Bonneau already having been suspended for one year, according to the report, the committee imposed a four-year term of resignation, equivalent to disbarment.
The committee's report stipulated that Bonneau cannot apply for re-admission to the law society, and hence reinstatement, during the four year period. She can only apply for reinstatement after the four-year term is over. Bonneau is only able to practise law again if she's reinstated.
The committee also stipulated that Bonneau, if reinstated to practise law, no longer has any signing authority on any trust accounts.