Legal Cheek
Denied it when confronted by firm
A junior solicitor has been struck off after telling a colleague to hide a file to cover up a lack of progress on a client matter.
Demi Perrin qualified as a solicitor in June 2022 into the family department at Blackpool firm Blackhurst Budd, having joined the firm in 2019 and later securing a training contract.
After being off work for two weeks for health reasons, Perrin contacted a colleague in early 2023, asking her to hide a file.
The colleague refused and subsequently reported Perrin to her line manager, according to the decision from Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT). When the firm looked up the file, it found that Perrin had not lodged a first registration application with HM Land Registry as she was supposed to have done, and that no action had been taken on the file since July 2022.
Perrin was then called into a meeting with the firm’s managing director, where she insisted that she had filed the application. She also denied having told the colleague to hide the file, claiming she was “confused” why that was being said.
Junior solicitor struck off after asking colleague to hide file
