A solicitor has been struck off after repeatedly lying about his education, qualifications, and practising certificate in an attempt to secure a role at a BigLaw firm.
A UK lawyer has been struck off after admitting he fabricated academic achievements, invented elements of his legal career, and falsely claimed to hold a practising certificate in his CV.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Vishal Patel, who was admitted as a solicitor in 2020 and was working as legal counsel at Aviva Investors, had submitted multiple versions of his CV containing details the tribunal found to be “false”.
The misconduct came to light in 2022, when he applied for an associate role at BigLaw firm Squire Patton Boggs through recruitment agency Robert Walters.
The tribunal heard that his CV claimed he had earned a first-class law degree, achieved “very competent” results in the Bar Professional Training Course, and completed an LLM at Nottingham University – all of which were false.
Unaware that Patel’s academic claims were fabricated, Squire Patton Boggs invited him to interview and extended an offer for the role, subject to pre-employment screening.
However, the pre-employment screening uncovered significant discrepancies between the information Patel provided in the online questionnaire and the CV he submitted.
Contrary to his claims, the tribunal heard that Patel had actually earned a lower second-class LLB from Birmingham City University, was awarded only “competent” in his Bar Professional Training Course, and, despite claiming to have attended a private school, was in fact state-educated.
A month later, Patel met with a recruiter at Robert Walters, who highlighted the inconsistencies between his CV and the information he had submitted, and asked him to account for his academic and professional history.
The tribunal heard that when Patel was explaining such inconsistencies, he admitted that he had “created a persona that he thought was required for a role in private practice”.
Pressed by the recruiter on whether this meant he had lied or falsified information to secure the job, Patel ultimately admitted, “yes,” though he attempted to explain that it was “not deliberate to mislead”.
In November 2022, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs reported Patel to the Solicitors Regulation Authority after discovering that he had submitted “false and misleading” information on his CV on two separate occasions.
Following Patel’s disclosure of the regulator’s investigation, Aviva Investors initiated its own inquiry in February 2023, asking him to provide the CV sent to the recruiter, a corrected CV, and a summary table of discrepancies between the two.
However, the tribunal heard that one of Patel’s employers at Aviva Investors, who reviewed the documents, concluded that the revised CV still contained “incorrect information” and that the summary of discrepancies “did not highlight the full extent of the differences”.
This ultimately led Aviva Investors to dismiss Patel for “gross misconduct” in April 2023.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal determined that Patel’s behaviour involved “repeated” and “deliberate” dishonesty on multiple occasions over a six-month period and affected several parties.
Although the tribunal noted Patel’s full admission and cooperation, it stressed that his conduct was of the “utmost seriousness” and could “directly harm the reputation of the legal profession”, finding no exceptional circumstances to warrant a lesser sanction.
Patel was also ordered to pay £5,313 (equivalent to over $10,000) in costs.
