West Vancouver mayor barred from practising law over misconduct
The mayor of West Vancouver has been banned from practising law for two years for professional misconduct in the handling of a client's estate.
Mark Sager, who was elected mayor of the district in 2022 and also served in that capacity in the 1990s, is disbarred as of April 1 and cannot work in any legal capacity or apply to any law society in Canada for two years.
The Law Society of B.C. announced the punishment on Wednesday after a hearing that wrapped up earlier this month.
“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,” according to a statement on the Law Society website.
Sager admitted he was in a conflict of interest by making himself the executor and trustee of a client's will that gave him “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, 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,” the statement said.
Sager admitted he failed to maintain proper records of how the estate funds were disbursed and failed to stay in touch with the estate's residual beneficiaries over a period of nine years.
On top of the two-year restriction on practising law, Sager agreed to several conditions including that he not work for any lawyer or law firm in B.C., not act in any fiduciary roles and not handle any fiduciary property.
Sager said in a statement that after he was elected he “committed to leaving my legal practice to devote all of my time to the important issues facing West Vancouver.”
“Unfortunately, complaints to the Law Society delayed my resignation. Five of the eight allegations against me have been dropped and three minor issues have been settled. As of April 1, I will resign from membership with the Law Society and refocus my complete attention on our community.”
The Law Society's citation against Sager was issued in 2022, before the election, but Sager applied to have the case heard anonymously. That motion was rejected on the basis that his position as mayor doesn't supersede the need for transparency in the administration of justice in B.C. That decision on anonymity noted Sager was cited and fined for professional misconduct by the society in 2019 for accepting financial gifts from another client who was a longtime family friend.
Sager has also run into trouble over his campaign finances during the 2022 municipal election.
In early December 2023, Elections B.C. announced it found “spending irregularities” during Sager's campaign and contacted the RCMP, which referred the file to the Port Moody police. That investigation is still underway.
The full agreement is available at the Law Society website.