A former Kamloops lawyer has been disbarred for misappropriating hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars from her clients.

The Law Society of BC says Seanna McKinley committed four separate instances of professional misconduct – including misappropriating over $330,000 from her pooled client trust account – when she withdrew money on more than 500 separate occasions.

The Law Society, in its Feb. 14 ruling, said that McKinley later tried to mislead the auditors by giving them false information, including a heavily redacted client account ledger.

The law society said McKinley later tried to mislead the law-society auditors by providing them with false information, including a heavily redacted client account ledger.

“She further attempted to mislead law-society compliance auditors by, among other acts, preparing 528 backdated bills and 447 backdated cover letters, creating 480 backdated electronic transfer forms, and stating that she did not operate her own trust account when she knew the statement was false,” the ruling said.

McKinley was suspended by the law society on April 11, 2016, and was kicked out the following year for nonpayment of fees.

“She has not responded to the Law Society’s four allegations of professional misconduct,” the decision also went on to say.

“She did not request an adjournment of the Disciplinary Hearing, nor has she provided any explanation for her complete lack of engagement with the Law Society’s disciplinary process, including her absence at the Disciplinary Hearing.”

Along with disbarment, McKinley, who had been a lawyer since 2001, was ordered to pay nearly $13,000 to the law society.