A tribunal has cleared a solicitor of wrongdoing and barred her former colleague over two misleading emails sent to another firm.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that Ria Lakhani, a paralegal with national firm Makrell Solicitors, had drafted and sent the emails giving a false picture of progress with two conveyancing transactions.
Lakhani had asserted that she worked under the direction of solicitor Joanne Tappin and was acting under her supervision and in accordance with her instructions.
Tappin denied any misconduct and said she had not authorised the misleading emails. The tribunal found the case against her was not proved and dismissed all allegations relating to her.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority, prosecuting, had applied at the outset of November’s seven-day hearing to withdraw allegations of dishonesty against Tappin. The tribunal allowed this.
On the third day of the hearing, Lakhani withdrew from proceedings, saying she felt overwhelmed and distressed and was unable to make submissions effectively without representation. She took no further part in proceedings and the hearing proceeded in her absence.
The tribunal heard that Tappin, admitted as a solicitor in 2012, had been responsible for the matter in one property exchange and instructed Lakhani to check the file and proceed only if all documents were present. She denied blaming the paralegal for the subsequent misleading email, which said a particular document was ‘lost in the post’, describing it as a ‘miscommunication compounded by departmental pressures’.
Tappin denied drafting, authorising or encouraging the sending of a dishonest email and stated that after seeing the draft she had told Lakhani to ‘leave it’ and wait for instructions. Tappin asserted that Lakhani had acted contrary to her advice and that another colleague had suggested that as a paralegal she could ‘get away with it’.
In relation to the second misleading email, which wrongly stated that a transfer deed had been misplaced, it was alleged by the SRA that Tappin had responded to Lakhani’s email with apparent approval. The solicitor had been forwarded the email and then sent her paralegal a WhatsApp message saying ‘Well done!’ with a smiling face emoji. Lakhani replied: ‘the Maddest anxiety sending this one ha-ha.’
The tribunal found there was no cogent evidence to establish that Tappin caused or allowed the misleading email to be sent by Lakhani. The messages from Lakhani were ‘disquieting’ but ‘inconclusive’.
The tribunal found that Lakhani had known she was sending misleading emails in a deliberate attempt to conceal errors that had been made on the file by herself and Tappin. She was issued with an indefinite section order, which prevents her working for any law firm without SRA permission, and ordered to pay £4,500 costs.
Tappin, who is now with another firm, was ordered to pay £10,000 costs.
