Roll on Friday
Not everyone is cribbing from ChatGPT – a partner has been accused of keeping it old school and simply plagiarising another solicitor’s work.
On 7 July 2025, Ackroyd Legal partner Geoff Karikari published a piece on the website of his firm at the time, RFB Legal, reviewing the potential impact on franchising law of an upcoming case, APK Communications Ltd & Others v Vodafone Ltd.
A source said it looked as if he may have engaged in a bit of unofficial franchising himself. “This lawyer has completely lifted Stephen Sidkin’s (Fox Williams) article on Vodafone litigation and passed it off as his own”, they alleged.
Every lawyer’s trusted aid, track changes, does reveal remarkable similarities between Karikari’s article and Sidkin’s, which was published a couple of weeks earlier on 26 June 2025.
Karikari’s introduction is his own, but the passages which follow are the same as Sidkin’s with minor tweaks:
By the end, the two pieces become identical:
Afsheen Nasr, the Managing Partner of RFB Legal, told RollOnFriday, “The firm was not aware of this. Geoffrey Karikari was employed as a Senior Associate and head of our corporate/commercial department when his article was published. He is no longer employed by our firm and we have taken steps to remove this article from our website and any other publications”.
Fox Williams declined to comment, and KariKari did not respond to requests for comment.
Karikari’s new firm has had its own issues with passing off. Ackroyd Legal was initially called Stirling Ackroyd Legal, until Stirling Ackroyd Group took legal action complaining that the new business was using its brand without consent. It obtained two High Court orders compelling Ackroyd Legal to comply with the terms of a settlement agreement.
Read More https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/partner-accused-plagiarism
