The Law Society of Ontario says it is continuing to strengthen its regulatory response to high-risk misconduct, including sexual misconduct and financial misconduct. On financial misconduct, the Law Society states that, from 1 May 2026, lawyers and paralegals who have a trust account, or who have authority over a firm trust account, must provide authorisation to their financial institution directing the release of trust account records to the regulator when requested and where necessary. The Law Society says this applies to accounts used to temporarily hold client funds, such as property transaction deposits, and is intended to support more effective oversight of trust account activity.
The Law Society of Ontario says the change responds to the limits of the previous position, under which the regulator could not access financial records to assess risk without the licensee’s cooperation. The Law Society links the new authorisation requirement to concerns about increasingly sophisticated fraud, misappropriation and other forms of trust account misuse.