A law firm employee has been banned from the profession after secretly using her own money to cover mistakes on the client file. 

SRA bans manager who covered client shortfall with own money

Nicola Girardier had been with her Rochdale firm Jackson Brierley Hudson Stoney inc A H Sutcliffe & Co for almost 18 years before it emerged in late 2021 that there had been issues with the management of the file for the previous 12 months. She resigned soon after.

Girardier had been responsible for the day-to-day running of files for clients with a deputy, supervised by the Office of the Public Guardian.

On this matter, the client’s benefit claims had not been properly progressed and she had accrued rent arrears. An SRA decision notice said that Girardier used her own funds to subsidise the client’s personal allowance for several months once their balance had been depleted.

The SRA imposed a banning order stopping Girardier from working for any regulated firm, explaining this ‘was because of the serious nature of her conduct in allowing issues to arise on the file for a vulnerable client over a period of time, and in subsidising the client from her own funds instead of bringing the issues to her supervisor’s attention’.

Girardier also has to pay the SRA’s £600 costs.

The solicitor in charge of supervising Girardier has also been sanctioned over the same issue. Mark Rodak, who had been a partner with the firm, was found to have breached the code of conduct by failing to supervise the handling of a vulnerable client’s file.

The SRA said this failure could have caused significant harm to the client and that Rodak was an experienced solicitor with direct responsibility for the conduct of staff.

‘A public sanction is required to maintain standards and to acknowledge there has been a breach of regulatory requirements,’ added the SRA. Rodak was given a written rebuke and ordered to pay £300 costs.