Citation issued: February 8, 2021
Gerald Edward Palmer
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 March 2016 and February 2020, in the course of representing your client JF (the “Client”) in a divorce proceeding, you failed to provide the Client with the quality of service expected of a competent lawyer, contrary to rule 3.2-1 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia. In particular, you failed to do one or more of the following:
(a) keep the Client reasonably informed about the status of her matter, including by providing progress updates as to the status of her divorce;
(b) answer reasonable requests from the Client for information, including numerous telephone calls and messages;
(c) take appropriate steps to finalize the Client’s divorce;
(d) ensure that the Client’s matter was attended to in a timely manner; and
(e) give reasonable attention to the review of documentation in the Client’s matter to avoid delay, including desk order divorce documents that were filed at and rejected by the Chilliwack registry of the BC Supreme Court in May 2016.
This conduct constitutes professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act.