Lawyer disbarred for misusing more than $181K belonging to clients

A St. John's lawyer has been stripped of his credentials to practise law after it was discovered he wrongly used hundreds of thousands of dollars of clients' money.

Michael J.M. Drover, was disbarred on May 3 by the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, after a tribunal found he misappropriated $181,483.97 from three clients and used $220,775 held in trust for two clients to pay invoices from his firmwithout giving the clients copies of the invoices.

It was also determined that he attempted to mislead the Law Society, and failed to respond in a timely and substantive manner to communications from the society.

Not first time disciplined

All of the actions that led to Droverlosing his credentials happened between 2011 and2014, according to the Law Society.

In addition to having his rights and privileges as as a lawyer taken away, Drover is also struck from the Roll of Barristers in the province.

Drover was also disciplined in 2007 and 2013 for failing to avoid conflict of interest between lawyer and a client, failing to protect his client's property, failing to perform undertakings and failing to respond to the Law Society in a timely manner.