Mother in Law: Lying to clients

I want to use this anonymous platform that I have found myself with to say something controversial, in the hope that it might help people.

I have backdated documents; and

I have lied to clients.

Moreover, I don’t have a 'mental health condition' to 'explain it'. Unless, that is, 'having a very responsible and stressful job' is a mental health condition, which maybe it is.

In recent years I’ve read way too many articles in this publication about junior lawyers being treated really harshly by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for behaviour that is a direct result of inexperience and a lack of support, and also by having a good dose of bad luck.

My reference above to a 'mental health condition' is to the case from a couple of years ago that I don’t want to name for the sake of the poor woman who no doubt doesn’t want to see her name in print again. You may recall she gave evidence that she was overcome by ‘uncontrollable fear, anxiety and panic’ when she left client documents on a train and decided not to tell her supervisor immediately. She did not provide any medical evidence to the tribunal, but did on appeal - an appeal that allowed her to continue to practise, with restrictions.

What is this regime we work under, where we have to provide medical evidence to prove we are likely to have suffered panic at leaving confidential documents on a train? You know who should be punished? The ones who don’t experience panic when they have cocked up.

It took three attempts to explain this case to my husband - who very often gets to go on the Clapham Omnibus for me. He couldn’t see any wrongdoing until I said in words of one syllable 'she lied to her boss while she looked for the case'. 'Oh,' was his unbothered reaction.

More recently we have seen the case of the paralegal who both backdated a letter by one week, and told a client she had requested some medical records but she had not.

As someone starting out on their career, it is difficult to know what is a big deal and what isn’t. How often have you looked at a document you have recently had signed, like a will, and realised it wasn’t dated and quickly filled it in? That is fine. Once the Land Registry phoned me to say I hadn’t dated a transfer deed and would I like them to write in the completion date. That is acceptable too. Then there are the times when I’ve been chased to prepare a letter and I’ve said it has been 'done', by which I mean it has been dictated, not typed. Because that’s not really a lie; I’ve done my bit towards it.

Has there ever been an occasion when I have said the letter is 'done' then quickly dictated it after the call? Probably. Because the fact is this - there have been times in my career when I have been under extreme stress, with a huge workload. This was particularly true at the outset when I did not really know what I was doing, but had precious few people to ask for help. As a trainee not only was my workload huge but at times the subject matter was harrowing too.

You also have to bear in mind (and I’m sure it will not be hard for you to do so) that at any one point a significant proportion of my clients are unreasonable, illogical, or simply extremely demanding.

And, anyway, do these acts of 'dishonesty' bring the profession into disrepute? Really? I do not think so. I know I am going to have to choose my words carefully here, or they will be edited out, but do you remember the senior solicitor last year who borrowed £6,000 from his client but the client said they had never intended on lending him money and thought it was provided for counsels’ fees? Once, as a trainee, a client gave me a can of coke and a bar of chocolate, and my boss gave me a stern talking-to about accepting gifts. We all know it is not OK to accept money from clients like this. The SRA found him not to be dishonest but, even so, this is not OK. My husband knows it is not OK. Our guinea pig probably knows it is not OK. It is so much more than a rookie error, and from someone who was not a rookie, and yet he just got a small fine.

I actually reported a firm to the SRA myself recently. It was not something I wanted to do and was an utter last resort. I was not accusing the firm of backdating a letter by a week. Let’s just say it was a lot more serious than that. The cocky sole practitioner on the other side responded to the SRA and they decided that they didn’t need to take any further action.

It now seems it is the SRA that needs to ensure the integrity of the profession - by being fair, proportionate and reasonable.

And my practical advice to young lawyers? I feel like saying 'be cocky and style it out' but, of course, I don’t mean it despite it working for some. You will make mistakes. You will make errors of judgement. This is why we have professional indemnity insurance. Your legs will wobble as you walk towards your supervisor, your face will be hot and your stomach will feel like a sack of potatoes - but you must tell them immediately. Most problems can be sorted out very, very easily and they will know how - because they have probably made the same mistake themselves.

Some facts and identities have been altered in the above article