A retired Salmon Arm lawyer has been barred from practicing for 10 years after he admitted to sexually harassing a legal aid client.

Lawyer Ian Frank McTavish downplayed some of his comments as “banter” but admitted to making unwelcome sexual comments, innuendoes, invitations, and advances toward the client.

According to a recently published Aug. 4 BC Law Society decision, the 79-year-old lawyer met the client after taking a legal aid file involving the client’s 13-year-old daughter and the Ministry of Children and Family Development in September 2023.

McTavish began texting the client with messages the regulator said were “offensive” and unprofessional.

“The lawyer/client thing keeps us separate, but I can’t lie: I wish it were different,” McTavish texted. “By the way, I have a female friend who is very good to me.”

In another text, he said the client was “lovely” and that he was “needing some attention” and that “it would be nice to have a release, if you get my drift.”

He once texted her, telling her he was getting undressed to go to the beach and loved “suggestive talk.”

He told her it sucked to be single, and invited her out for dinner.

“I sit with all my friends there would be one heck of a lot of talk if I was sitting with a beautiful woman such as yourself. Heck, they might even think that I hired you,” the decision reads.

The client declined the dinner invite, but did allow McTavish to gift or loan her money on three occasions.

“(She) experienced a shift in their relationship after (McTavish) began loaning her money, and she felt like he expected something in return from her. (She) observed that (McTavish’s) hand-holding and hugging started or increased after loans were made,” the regulator said.

The decision says McTavish engaged in unwanted touching.

“(McTavish) began embracing her, pulling her into his chest, and ‘inhaling’ her. (She) recalled that the (his) hugs occurred in private,” the decision says.

He also made direct and indirect requests for massages and regularly told her she was beautiful.

At one point he invited her to spend the night in his spare bedroom, saying he didn’t want her be alone when she wasn’t in a good state of mind.

The decision says the client didn’t feel safe meeting him alone, and had concerns about the quality of service he was providing.

In July 2024, she contacted Legal Aid and got herself a new lawyer. She then reported McTavish to the regulator.

McTavish told the Law Society that she lacked self-confidence, and he tried to “buoy her up” with his messages.

He explained his comment about “needing relief” referred to his chronic neck and back pain but admitted it could be interpreted as having a sexual connotation. Other comments he described as “banter.”

He admitted to unsolicited or unwelcome physical contact and sexual harassment.

McTavish, who began practicing law in 1974, retired at the end of 2024.

The Law Society barred him from practicing for 10 years.