A paralegal who tried to cover up missed email reminders has been barred from the profession.
Phoebe Bird, a former employee of Exeter-headquartered firm Ashfords LLP, agreed to the outcome after admitting to acting dishonestly.
According to a Solicitors Regulation Authority notice, Bird, who had been a paralegal with the firm for two and a half years, was responsible for sending reminders to clients about the renewal of their trade marks.
However during a review of a client file, the firm became concerned about an email chain saved by Bird and launched an internal investigation, with the IT department confirming that no email reminders had been sent.
Bird admitted to the SRA that she amended a draft email to make it appear that she had sent emails previously. She also admitted placing copies of those emails on the client file to mislead anyone reading them and misled her supervisor about having sent them previously.
The SRA accepted that Bird had shown insight and remorse for her actions and that her conduct, which was isolated to this one matter, did not cause any actual harm to the client.
The regulator added: ‘Her conduct was dishonest and diminishes the public’s trust and confidence in those who are involved in and responsible for the safe delivery of legal services. She did not rectify her error and instead misled her supervisor into believing that the emails had been sent.’
Bird was given a section 43 notice preventing her from working for any SRA regulated entity and agreed to pay £300 costs.
