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I note all the comments posted here with interest - for me it's quite simple. It's like the difference between Caldwell and Cunningham recklessness, a concept all budding lawyers learn in their first year of study - can you truly be held culpable for your actions - or indeed inaction - if you are paralysed with fear, a common response to extreme stress such as that Ms James it would seem was under. Would any lawyer, having fought for that illusive training contract, probably worked long hours through training with little financial reward and had to volunteer and work for free during university holidays just to get something on their cv to hang their hat on, if truly thinking lucidly, mis-date a document knowing this may end their career before it had even hardly begun. Of course not - so the question is, what drives a person to that? It's certainly not one bad day in the office but more likely driven by months of systemic abuse in the work place and the senior management of the firm in question should be truly ashamed of themselves. Still, is it really a surprise when we are trained to find culpability, fault and blame with every opponent we pursue that this mind set permeates eventually into every aspect of our lives, including how we treat each other in the work place. For anyone who thinks tonight that Ms James got of lightly, I can assure you, as someone who has been through this and come out the other side, what happened to Ms James is not a 3 year suspended judgment, it is a life sentence. The level of bullying and mistreatment which drives you to act as Ms James did stays with you and affects you for life. I'm so far over it that years on I still can't bring myself to put my name to this post, that's how over the experience I am! Ms James, if you can bring yourself to be strong enough to read any if the comments posted here I apologise to you on behalf of the whole profession and I wish you well in everything that you endeavour to do, not only as a lawyer but to get over this traumatic experience, best of luck to you.