Attorney With Past History Of Playing Fast & Loose With Trust Account Cash Now Gets The Boot For Fleecing 3 Clients Out Of Over $180K

In St. John's, Newfoundland, CBC News reports:

• A St. John's lawyer has been stripped of his credentials to practise law after it was discovered he wrongly used hundreds of thousands of dollars of clients' money.
  
  Michael J.M. Drover, was disbarred on May 3 by the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, after a tribunal found he misappropriated $181,483.97 from three clients and used $220,775 held in trust for two clients to pay invoices from his firm — without giving the clients copies of the invoices.(1)
  
  It was also determined that he attempted to mislead the Law Society, and failed to respond in a timely and substantive manner to communications from the society.
  
  Not first time disciplined
  
  All of the actions that led to Drover losing his credentials happened between 2011 and 2014, according to the Law Society.
  
  In addition to having his rights and privileges as as a lawyer taken away, Drover is also struck from the Roll of Barristers in the province.
  
  Drover was also disciplined in 2007 and 2013 for failing to avoid conflict of interest between lawyer and a client, failing to protect his client's property, failing to perform undertakings and failing to respond to the Law Society in a timely manner.

Source: Lawyer disbarred for misusing more than $181K belonging to clients.

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(1) The Lawyers’ Insurance Programme (LIP) of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador administers in-house for members the Society’s mandatory professional liability insurance policy, the excess insurance plan and the Assurance Fund. LIP is a member of the Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association (CLIA), a reciprocal insurance exchange. It provides professional liability insurance for practicing lawyers in seven provinces and the territories. See, generally, Levy stays steady as lawyers’ insurance fund hits $10M.

Among other things this program handles claims from clients who have suffered monetary losses at the hands of dishonest lawyers licensed and practicing in the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador.

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that sometimes help cover the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (February 2017) (includes Canadian recovery funds, courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.