Decade ban for BC lawyer who strung clients along with fabricated letters

A BC lawyer who fabricated more than a dozen letters in an effort to convince his clients he was working on their cases has been barred from practicing for 10 years.

According to a recently published Feb. 13 BC Law Society decision, lawyer Rajesh Soni strung numerous clients along, often sending fabricated letters to appear as if their files were ticking through the system.

In one immigration case, he told a client that their permanent residency should be through within a few months, when he knew it had been rejected six months earlier because he failed to pay the fee.

He then sent his client two fabricated letters, which he said were from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

In a separate family case, Soni told a client he’d applied for their divorce when he hadn’t done anything.

He then wrote up a document appearing to be from the “Head of the BC Public Service,” saying the client’s name change was approved and registered.

Soni later fabricated another letter pretending it was from BC Vital Statistics, which said it would compensate his client for an airline ticket if they did not receive their official name change by a certain date.

“(Soni) knew that he had fabricated the letter and its contents were false and misleading,” the decision reads.

He continued the ruse, writing more letters pretending to be from BC Vital Statistics.

One said the delay was “simply inexcusable,” while another said the client would receive a $4,491 in financial compensation for the delays. 

He later told his client that he’d been to court to resolve the matter and the judge was “upset” with the government.

Soni falsified a court stamp and two affidavits, giving them to his client. He later faked a court order which stated a judge ordered the Certificate of Name Change to be issued.

The lawyer often used COVID as a reason things were moving slowly, telling one client that only lawyers could attend court because of the pandemic.

He then fabricated a Court of Appeal schedule showing that a client’s case would be heard that week, when it had already happened and been dismissed.

One faked letter pretending to be from the opposing side said the courts were “having issues with their systems, causing incorrect information to be shown in different files on Court Services Online.”

He then continued to send fake letters pretending to be from various parties involved.

In a separate debt collection matter, he told his client he’d obtained a default judgment, which wasn’t true.

He then wrote up a contract pretending to be with a debt collection agency in California. Soon afterwards, he said he retained a law firm to investigate the “fraudulent” debt collection contract.

He later got a second retainer agreement from his client to enforce the default judgment that didn’t exist.

The decision doesn’t say how much money Soni made from his clients or whether he ever paid any of them back.

In one case, he forged the signature of another lawyer in an affidavit and used their stamp.

“He instructed the client to swear the affidavit when he knew the affidavit contained false, misleading, or fabricated evidence,” the Law Society said.

When the Law Society began investigating Soni then made “misrepresentations.”

The decision doesn’t specify where in BC Soni practiced, but the conduct took place between 2021 and 2024. He later signed a consent agreement with the Law Society and admitted to his behaviour.

The decision says he became a lawyer in 2019 and only worked for two months at a law firm before he began practising on his own.

He said he was dealing with serious health concerns at the time and says he is remorseful and has accepted responsibility.

Soni is now barred from practicing law in Canada for 10 years, and if he applies elsewhere in the world, he is required to tell the Law Society.