Veronica Margaret Hyland

• Application 10189-2009
• Admitted 2003
• Hearing 30 March 2010
• Reasons 19 May 2010

The SDT ordered that the respondent, of Stone, Staffordshire ST15, should be struck off the roll. In forging a client’s signature on an enduring power of attorney and in producing other false documentation, the respondent had dishonestly acted in a fraudulent and deceitful manner and contrary to her position as a solicitor, in breach of rule 1(a), 1(c) and 1(d) of the Solicitors Practice Rules 1990 and rule 1.02, 1.04 and 1.06 of the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007; and she had behaved in such a way as was likely to diminish the trust that the public placed in her or in the profession in that she had been convicted at Stafford Crown Court on 4 December 2009 of theft, fraud and using a false instrument, in breach of rule 1.06 of the 2007 Code.
The SDT found that the respondent had stolen both from her clients, by way of an EPA, and from her employer. The SDT was extremely concerned by the very serious breaches of trust committed by a solicitor. The respondent had perpetrated pre-meditated fraud on a vulnerable and incapacitated client. The SDT considered it to have been an outrageous exploitation, and that by her actions the respondent had seriously undermined the confidence of the public in the profession.

The respondent was ordered to pay costs of £9,571.