B.C. lawyer resigns after admitting professional misconduct

The headquarters of the Law Society of B.C. is seen on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (CTV News)

A lawyer from B.C.’s Okanagan has resigned from the province’s law society after admitting to professional misconduct.

Kelowna lawyer Donald L. Wilkinson “misappropriated or improperly withdrew” approximately $24,000 from a trust between 2020 and 2023 while acting as executor and representing the estate of a client, according to a consent agreement he signed with the Law Society of B.C.

The society found Wilkinson was “not entitled to some or all of those funds.”

In a news release, the LSBC said the lawyer also “misappropriated or improperly withdrew approximately $30,500 as trust cheques payable to his client,” who was not entitled to those funds either.

In the consent agreement, Wilkinson admitted that he “failed to provide the quality of service required of a competent lawyer in a similar situation.”

The document notes that Wilkinson is past “the usual age of retirement,” but could apply for reinstatement in the Law Society of B.C.

The lawyer would be subject to a mandatory credentials hearing if he were to do so, the LSBC said.