Head of B.C.'s car sales regulator admits he wrongly believed his deputy was a practising lawyer
CBC
The top official at B.C.'s regulator for the car sales industry has acknowledged he was working under the false impression that his deputy was a practising lawyer and only learned the truth because of a lawsuit.
That admission from Ian Christman, registrar at the Vehicle Sales Authority (VSA), is in direct opposition to claims from the VSA's former chief operating officer and deputy registrar Loraine Lee.
Lee is the subject of a petition from the Law Society of B.C., which alleges she misled her employer into believing she was a lawyer and provided legal services even though she hasn't been licensed since 1987.
In her response, Lee claimed the VSA had hired her with full knowledge she is not a practising lawyer and argued her role with the agency was managerial, not legal.
Christman addressed the situation last week in a decision to recuse himself from hearing a case in which Lee had prepared legal arguments for the VSA.
"It was my understanding at the time of Loraine Lee's hiring that she was a practising lawyer and a member of the Law Society of British Columbia who would be providing legal services to the authority, among other duties," Christman wrote in the Sept. 8 decision.
"This was my understanding until I became aware of the law society's allegation that Loraine Lee was providing legal services while not licensed as a lawyer."
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