Lawyer suspended for misconduct

A Burnaby lawyer has been suspended for one month and fined $ 6,000 after misleading the Law Society of B. C. about his schedule so he could avoid a disciplinary hearing.

Andrew James Liggett was expected to appear at a citation hearing on Sept. 24, 2010, but he told the society he was scheduled to be in court at that time for the second day of a family law trial, according to a Law Society news release.

Liggett already knew the second day of the trial had been adjourned when he faxed the society an outdated notice of trial.

Liggett, “as a result of his own inaction, allowed himself to become double- booked with a calendar conflict,” the society said in its submission to its own panel that reviewed the case in May 2011.

After hearing evidence from both sides, the panel decided that Liggett acted recklessly but ultimately didn’t lie about his schedule.

The regulator called Liggett’s actions “serious misconduct,” and suspended him for one month, beginning March 1.

“Lawyers must approach the Law Society and its discipline process with the utmost integrity and good faith,” said Deborah Armour, the society’s chief legal officer, in the release. “If they don’t, they face appropriate consequences.”

According to the Law Society’s website, Liggett, who was called to the bar in 1991, also was penalized in 2009 for three years of improper record- keeping at his Sea to Sky Law Corp.

The Law Society regulates more than 10,000 lawyers in the province.