A solicitor of more than 30 years has expressed her sadness at retiring with the stigma of being struck off the roll. Diana Marten admitted she falsified the date on a legal charge to make a deadline she had missed. She made an agreed outcome with the Solicitors Regulation Authority that she should be struck off and accepted that she had acted dishonestly.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Marten, who worked for Midlands firm MFG Solicitors, had picked up a file while a colleague was on holiday on a client’s application to re-mortgage a residential property. The new mortgage advance was received on 3 December 2018 and the firm had 21 days to register the new charge with Companies House.
That date was missed and when Marten returned to work after the Christmas and New Year break, she recorded the commencement date as 23 December rather than 3 December and proceeded to register the charge.
A few weeks later, she told one of the partners what she had done and the firm emailed the client saying there had been the wrong date inserted. The partner advised Marten to report her conduct to the SRA, saying it would look better if it was made by her. She duly did so, and resigned a month later.
In mitigation not agreed with the SRA, Marten pointed to a 32-year career as a solicitor with no disciplinary or regulatory issues and offered her genuine and sincere apology for what had happened. She accepted and recognised ‘with deep regret and sadness’ that at 69 years of age she would ‘have to live the rest of her life with the stigma of being struck off which is not the career legacy she ever dreamt of upon qualification’.
The tribunal said there had been a potential risk to her clients and noted that her firm had to apply to amend the date to the correct one. She was struck off and ordered to pay £2,500 costs.
