A former Shuswap lawyer has been accused of sexually harassing a client.

According to an Aug. 5 BC Law Society citation, former Salmon Arm lawyer Ian Frank McTavish is accused of making unwelcome sexual comments and sexually harassing a client over 11 months in 2023 and 2024.

The legal regulator alleges McTavish made “innuendoes, invitations, or advances toward the client” along with the unwelcome sexual comments.

“(McTavish engaged) in unsolicited or unwelcome physical contact or touching of the client, and communicating with the client in a manner that was offensive or inconsistent with the proper tone of a professional communication from a lawyer,” the Law Society said.

Precise details of what took place aren’t given in the citation, which said the incidents took place between September 2023 and July 2024 while dealing with the client’s family law matter.

When reached by phone, McTavish said the accusation had “no merit whatsoever.”

“I have nothing to say about it at all,” McTavish told iNFOnews.ca.

McTavish began practicing law in 1974 and appears to have recently retired and is no longer a member of the BC Law Society.

Over the years, McTavish has been disciplined by the Law Society several times and was once suspended for three months.

In 2018, he was fined $6,000 for professional misconduct over his handling of a wills and estates matter.

“At the time the misconduct in this case started, he had been called to the bar for over 35 years. Given the length of time he had been practising law, (McTavish) ought to have known the limitations of his experience in estate law,” the 2018 decision read. “He should have recognized shortcomings in his experience and sought assistance from, or referred the matter to counsel more familiar with estate law.”

In 2024, McTavish opened the Atelier Gallery in Salmon Arm, according to the art gallery’s website.

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