A conveyancing executive who used a false invoice to pay a personal loan using client money has been banned from working for a solicitors’ firm without the regulator’s permission.
Katie Baxter worked on a self-employed basis for Howard & Co Solicitors LLP in Barnsley, South Yorkshire between March 2020 and May 2023. During her work at the firm she directed the payment of client money, in the form of unpaid disbursements, into her own business account. They should have been paid into the firm’s client account, the SRA said.
In a written decision, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said Baxter ‘asked a third party to prepare a false invoice for work that was never carried out and used the false invoice to pay a personal loan using client money.’
Baxter’s conduct was found to be dishonest and the SRA ruled it was undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice without its prior approval.
The written decision stated: ‘Ms Baxter’s conduct was serious because she acted dishonestly in directing clients to pay funds due to the firm into her own business account, arranging for a fabricated invoice to be produced and using that invoice to obtain payment out of the firm’s client account to repay a personal debt. Ms Baxter sought to mislead colleagues to cover up her misconduct and acted with impropriety to obtain personal financial advantage.’
Baxter was made subject to a Section 43 order and was ordered to pay a proportion of the SRA’s costs of £1,350.
