A paralegal who misled clients in relation to their divorces will need the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s written permission to work at a firm again.
Francesca Nicole Mears was employed as a paralegal in Sills & Betteridge, in Lincoln, where she handled three divorce cases. Her employment was terminated by the firm on 15 October 2021.
Between July 2020 and September 2021, the SRA said Mears ‘misled three clients into believing their divorce petitions had been issued by the court when she had no honest belief that they had been’. She also told the clients of delays with the court in replying to correspondence when she had no honest belief that this was true.
In putting restrictions on where and how Mears can work in an SRA-regulated firm, the regulator said: ‘Ms Mears, who is not a solicitor, was involved in a legal practice and has occasioned or been party to an act or default which involved such conduct on her part that it is undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice in any of the ways described in the order below.’
A section 43 order was imposed as Mears' conduct 'meant that it was undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice without the SRA’s prior approval’. The SRA added that the ‘serious nature’ of Mears’ conduct showed she ‘lacked integrity and was dishonest’.
Restrictions include that Mears’ cannot be employed or remunerated by a solicitor or recognised body except with the SRA’s prior written permission.
