UK Law Gazette: Dishonest solicitor avoids strike-off over ‘moment of madness’ | Practice Source – Legal News and Views
The joys of being an automaton at a large firm…
A solicitor who deleted an email chain linking her to a client complaint has avoided being struck off. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Heather Roberts had acted dishonestly but ruled that she fell into the small group of cases where a permanent ban was not required.
Roberts, a senior associate with national firm Irwin Mitchell, told the tribunal she was in a ‘haze’ at the time of the misconduct due to worsening health and demanding working conditions. She felt she was approaching burnout.
While the tribunal found Roberts to have been dishonest, this did not mean she was a dishonest person, and a one-year suspension was deemed sufficient sanction. Roberts’ dishonesty was ‘limited in duration’ and the tribunal was prepared to accept it had been a ‘moment of madness’ on her part at a time when she had been moving into a zone of ill health. ‘She acted wholly out of character.’
Read more
