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Less than a year after being admitted as a solicitor, a junior lawyer has been struck off after deliberately asking a colleague to hide a client file to prevent her firm from discovering she had failed to complete the work.
A UK-based junior solicitor has been struck off the roll of solicitors after asking a colleague to hide a client file and making false statements to her employer in an effort to cover up her failure to complete the work.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that while working as a solicitor at an England-based law firm, Demi Perrin asked a colleague to hide a file while she was on leave for health reasons in early 2023.
The file in question related to a “First Registration” matter that had been in Perrin’s possession since mid-2022.
Despite Perrin’s request, her colleague refused to hide the file and instead reported the matter to their line manager.
The manager subsequently located the file and discovered that the First Registration application had never been lodged with the relevant UK government department, despite months having passed.
Upon returning to work after a two-week absence, Perrin was called into a meeting with the firm’s managing director and questioned about the progress of the file.
Instead of acknowledging that no work had been completed, the tribunal heard she falsely insisted the First Registration application had been submitted and that she was “waiting to hear” from the relevant UK government department, even though no application had ever been lodged.
Even after the managing director told her he had reviewed the file history and found no evidence that any action had been taken since July 2022, Perrin continued to stand by her account.
Perrin also denied ever asking her colleague to hide the file when the allegation was raised during the meeting.
Instead, she claimed she was “confused” as to why there was no record of her having sent the application and questioned why her colleague would “say such a thing”.
Following the meeting, the managing director instructed another colleague to independently verify whether the application had actually been lodged.
After making inquiries with the relevant UK government department, the colleague confirmed that “no such application had been received”.
During a second meeting, after the managing director said he would contact the department to verify whether it had received the application, Perrin responded that she “could not guarantee” it had been received.
Given what was described as “one last opportunity” to tell the truth, Perrin admitted she had not sent the application, but continued to deny asking her colleague to hide the file.
At the time of the misconduct, Perrin had been admitted as a solicitor for just over six months, having joined the roll of solicitors on 2 June 2022.
The court heard that, after being signed off work by her GP for three months, Perrin returned to the office at the end of April 2023, only to be formally suspended pending a disciplinary investigation.
A few days later, Perrin wrote to the firm admitting she had lied to the managing director, saying she could not excuse her actions and explaining that she had been “not mentally or physically ready” to return to the office following a spell in hospital.
In the letter, she also apologised for her conduct, acknowledging that she had “made a serious error of judgment under extreme circumstances”.
Perrin ultimately agreed with the Solicitors Regulation Authority that she should be struck off the roll.
In mitigation, she repeatedly told the regulator she was prepared to voluntarily remove herself from the profession because of her medical conditions.
However, the tribunal made no order as to costs due to her “financial circumstances”.
