Roll on Friday
Zara Simpson was a PA at Leeds-based firm Walker Morris when she was tasked with transferring £250* to a colleague’s honeymoon fund via a wedding website (weddingshop.com). Instead, she retained the money in her own bank account.
A Walker Morris spokesperson told RollOnFriday that Simpson resigned from the firm mid-way through an internal investigation into the matter.
“The firm referred the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and immediately took steps to recoup all monies collected for the honeymoon fund, ensuring the bride and groom were not disadvantaged,” they confirmed.
The SRA found that Simpsons had “misled” Walker Morris by stating that she had allocated the money, and deemed that her conduct was “serious because it was dishonest”.
As such, the regulator determined that it was “undesirable” for Simpson to be involved in a legal practice without the SRA’s prior approval, and imposed a s43 order prohibiting solicitors, and employers regulated by the SRA, from hiring her. She was also ordered to pay a proportion of the SRA’s costs of £600.
Walker Morris said it “fully supports the outcome of the SRA investigation”.
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/walker-morris-pa-snaffled-colleagues-honeymoon-collection
