A trainee solicitor who misled her firm about her reason for taking leave has been disqualified from the profession. The Solicitors Regulation Authority found that Stephanie Merrill provided false information to her firm, Shropshire practice Lanyon Bowder, when she made the request in September 2022.
Merrill, who had been a medical legal assistant before starting a training contract the same month, had stated she needed to take a day off to take a relative to a hospital appointment.
But a week after her leave was taken, the firm was notified that a court hearing had taken place involving Merrill on the day she was off. At the hearing, Cheshire East Council was granted an injunction against her in respect of planning breaches on land she occupied.
The firm began an investigation, and Merrill signed a statement of truth in which she told her bosses that she only found out about the court hearing after agreeing to take her relative to the hospital. Merrill insisted – in both her statement and at a disciplinary hearing held by the firm - that she decided the day before the hearing that she should attend that instead of the hospital trip.
The firm was not satisfied with her explanation and dismissed her for gross misconduct, citing that she had sought to mislead about her reason for requesting leave.
Merrill was reported to the SRA and she subsequently admitted that she misled the firm when she said she wanted leave to attend the hospital appointment. This appointment had actually been the following day, and she admitted providing her firm with a version of her relative’s appointment letter edited to show the wrong date.
The SRA found that Merrill had acted dishonesty and without integrity. She was barred from being an employee of any licensed body and ordered to pay £600 costs.
