Fake lawyer out as COO of B.C.’s Vehicle Sales Authority

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In British Columbia, it seems that a lack of just this kind of oversight let a pretend lawyer pass herself off as a real one. Loraine Lee was hired as the chief operating officer and deputy registrar for the Vehicle Sales Authority (VSA) in 2019. “The law society submits that the VSA specifically sought and believed it was hiring a lawyer to fill its job vacancy, and that the Registrar of Motor Vehicles was misled into believing that Loraine Lee was a lawyer,” from this report. The discovery has also taken out VSA president and CEO Stephen Simms.

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“Loraine Lee, formerly the chief operating officer for the Vehicle Sales Authority (VSA), no longer sits on the Mental Health Review Board or the Passenger Transportation Board, B.C.’s Ministry of the Attorney General confirmed Monday,” according to CBC news . Lee apparently turned a seven-month gig as an actual lawyer — in 1987 — into a career as a not-actual lawyer. Lee has stated the VSA was aware of her status and says she did nothing wrong. The petition, however, states, “that Lee signed “numerous legal submissions” for the VSA in 2019 and 2020 that identified her as “Counsel for the Vehicle Sales Authority.” Lee has also been referred to as “legal counsel” for the VSA in at least one decision from the registrar posted online.”

A disgruntled person who didn’t like how his complaint against a car dealer was handled triggered an investigation. Lee left the two boards in July, and in October was told by the B.C. Supreme Court to stop, “acting as a lawyer, giving legal advice or characterizing herself as qualified to practise law.”