Rachel Connor
- Application 10349-2009
- Hearing 29 April 2010
- Reasons 3 June 2010
The SDT ordered that, as from 29 April 2010, except in accordance with Law Society permission:- (i) no solicitor should employ or remunerate, in connection with his practice as a solicitor, the respondent, of Ramsgate, Kent CT12; (ii) no employee of a solicitor should employ or remunerate, in connection with the solicitor’s practice, the said respondent; (iii) no recognised body should employ or remunerate the said respondent; (iv) no manager or employee of a recognised body should employ or remunerate the said respondent in connection with the business of that body; (v) no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body should permit the said respondent to be a manager of the body; and (vi) no recognised body or manager or employee of such a body should permit the said respondent to have an interest in the body. The respondent had been involved in conduct of such a nature that in the opinion of the Solicitors Regulation Authority it would be undesirable for her to be employed in any capacity set out in the applicant’s application. Between 17 January 2007 and 21 August 2008 the respondent had obtained £10,141.63 from client funds and petty cash whilst working as a secretary in the conveyancing department at K Solicitors. On 18 occasions between those dates, the respondent had raised or requisitioned cheques and/or petty cash claiming that such sums were payable to clients or to third parties on behalf of clients, whereas the respondent had arranged for the monies to be paid into bank accounts held in her name, and in three cases payments were made to a third party to whom the respondent owed money. The SDT made the order sought. It had found as a matter of fact that the respondent had been involved in conduct which made her unsuitable to be employed within the profession.
The respondent was ordered to pay costs of £2,644.
