Former Vernon lawyer accused of transferring client’s property to himself, misappropriating $116,000

A former Vernon lawyer, once described by the Law Society as lacking candour and honesty, now stands accused of transferring half of a client’s property into his name while dealing with their estate.

According to a recently published Oct. 6 BC Law Society citation, former lawyer Leonard Hil Marriott is also accused of “misappropriat(ing) or improperly withdrew” $116,866 of the client’s funds and named himself as a beneficiary of 75% of the client’s residual estate.

The Law Society citation says that in July 2021, while acting for an unnamed client in a wills and estates matter, he prepared documents gifting himself a 50% interest in the client’s property.

The citation says the paperwork was filed at the Land Title Office later that year, making both him and the client owners of the property.

“This conduct constitutes professional misconduct,” the Law Society said in the decision.

The Law Society says he then misappropriated or improperly withdrew some or all of $116,866 from his client’s trust account into a numbered company account owned and controlled by him.

The citation says that in December 2021, Marriott then allegedly secured a loan from his client to his Company for $81,886. A few months later, he secured another loan for $35,000.

A month later in March 2022, Marriott prepared a will for the client naming himself as a beneficiary of 75% of the Client’s residual estate, the Law Society says.

Marriott has previously been found to have committed professional misconduct and earlier this year was ordered to resign and barred from practicing law for 10 years.

He was ordered to wind up his practice by July 1, and the Law Society got a court order taking it over a couple of months later, after Marriott failed to give them evidence he’d closed up shop.

In February, the Law Society found Marriott committed professional misconduct when he “utterly failed” to complete relatively straightforward paperwork for an elderly client and then filed false information in court.

“(Marriott) knew that he had made false representations to the court which would mislead the court on a vital point,” an earlier Law Society decision reads. 

The Law Society went on to say he was “replete with unresponsive and evasive answers.”

In December 2024, the Law Society ordered Marriott to pay back $70,000 of a client’s money after he made multiple errors in his “sloppy” handling of a $1.2-million estate.

Marriott, who is in his mid-sixties, got his law licence in 1992, but since then has only practiced law for a few years. He carried out business under the name North Valley Law and had offices in Vernon, Enderby and Armstrong.

A May 2023 court filing said the Canada Revenue Agency had a judgment against Marriott for $175,000.

In February, Marriott sued media outlet Castanet for defamation following a series of articles published between May 2023 and January 2024. Castanet responded to the suit, denying the allegations.

None of the current allegations have been proven by the Law Society of BC.

Marriott did not respond to our request for comment.