Citation issued: April 25, 2022
Heming Cheng
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:
1. Between approximately December 2017 and February 2018, on your file [file number], purportedly in relation to personal property purchases in China, you used your firm’s trust account to receive some or all of $3,139,000, or disburse some or all of $3,139,000, or both, as set out in Schedule “A” (collectively, the “Transactions”), and failed to do one or more of the following:
(a) provide any or substantial legal services in connection with the Transactions;
(b) make reasonable inquiries, or record the results of any inquiries, in relation to the circumstances of the disbursement of funds from the trust account, contrary to rule 3.2-7 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia; and comply with the requirements of Law Society Rules 3-60(4) and 3-60(5), by ensuring one or both of the following occurred:
(i) funds deposited into the trust account were only for legal services; and
(ii) no more than $300 of your own funds were in the trust account at any one time.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct or a breach of the Act or rules, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.